The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception
The pose indicates the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. A fuller rendering of the type would feature a crescent moon beneath her feet, following the iconography drawn from Revelation. The belief was embraced with particular enthusiasm in Spain and her colonial empire. An enormous number of ivory images of the Virgin were produced in the Philippines and many, like this example, show her robe distinctively tucked in back. The back of her head and hair were carved separately to permit the insertion of glass eyes, a realistic touch found in much Spanish devotional sculpture.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception
- Date: 18th century
- Culture: Hispano-Philippine
- Medium: Ivory, partly gilded and polychromed; halo: silver; eyes: glass
- Dimensions: confirmed, with halo: 10 1/4 × 3 1/8 × 2 13/16 in. (26 × 7.9 × 7.1 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture-Miniature
- Credit Line: Gift of Loretta Hines Howard, 1964
- Object Number: 64.164.243a, b
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Master of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian
probably mid-17th century
Juan Martínez Montañés
ca. 1620–30
Indo-Portuguese
17th–18th century
Hispano-Philippine
17th–18th century
Johann Valentin Gevers
Johann Andreas Thelot
ca. 1710
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