Mexican Spanish Colonial Christo-Jesus/18th C. Mexico

Very old and finely carved Spanish Colonial painted wood icon of Christ.
This piece is from Mexico, dates to the 18th century, or earlier.

This carving was no doubt part of a larger church altar, or possibly part of an altar from a chapel in a large private hacienda in Mexico.

This religious sculpture measures 21.25" tall x 11.5" wide x 7" deep.
It weighs 7 lbs.

This piece was carved out of a large piece of wood, covered with gesso, painted, and given some gold-leaf highlights on the red robe of Jesus. The surface still retains some of its original paint and traces of the gold leaf decoration, as you can see from the photographs.

The piece features detailed and stylized carving in the more sophisticated Spanish Colonial style, possibly carved by a Spanish or European trained artisan, as opposed to the more naive style that was often done by native Mexican Indians.

The figure is beautifully sculpted and is quite expressive.

This carving was carved from one solid piece of wood, with the exception of the lower arms which were carved separately and pegged onto the body (the figure and the background are one piece).

There are losses to the fingers of the right hand and the left arm is missing from the elbow down.

The back of the panel shows that it is one solid piece and that it was shaped with an adze (a steel tool with an inward-curved blade) rather than a saw. The photos of the back show the adze marks as well as the very dark oxidized patina that the surface of the wood has developed over the centuries.

The front of the sculpture also shows wear, crazing, and a darkened patina to the surfaces. This piece has not been restored in any way, as far as I can see.

Although the eyes do not appear to be glass and are covered with gesso and paint, I can see indications of a line around the face (on both sides in front of the ears and under the chin) which sometimes, on antique Santos, indicates that the head is hollow so that glass eyes can be put in place from the inside. Probably the only way to know for sure if the eyes are glass under the gesso, would be to x-ray the sculpture.

This piece is a very fine and large example of Spanish Colonial - Mexican religious art dating to the 18th century or earlier. Although I can't date the piece exactly, I believe it could be as early as 17th century, but not later than late 18th century.

This piece will be a museum quality addition to any collection.