The Christ Child (Infant of Prague)

The Christ Child (Infant of Prague)

late 1600s
Artist
unknown artist
Country
Philippines
Style/Tradition
Spanish Colonial
Object
figurine
Medium
ivory
Accession Number
1992.61
Credit Line
Bequest of Robert J. Stroessner

Unknown artist, The Christ Child (Infant of Prague), late 1600s. Ivory; 17 × 6 × 3½ in. Bequest of Robert J. Stroessner, 1992.61.

Dimensions
height: 17 in, 43.1800 cm; width: 6 in, 15.2400 cm; depth: 3.5 in, 8.8900 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art
This object is currently on view

Sculptures carved from ivory were some of the most desirable exports from the Spanish Philippines to Europe and the Americas. Raw ivory was brought from East Africa or India to Manila, where it was carved by artists of Chinese descent known as sangleys, who endowed the artworks with distinctive characteristics such as the tight curls of Christ’s hair and his fleshy thighs.

This statue shows the Christ Child as the Salvator Mundi (Redeemer of the World), a popular devotion in the early modern world. The most famous statue in the Philippines, the Santo Niño de Cebu, shows another variation of the iconography in the Flemish tradition. This small work in ivory is more closely related to the iconography of the Infant of Prague, a 16th-century wooden statue of the Christ Child sent to the Czech Republic from Spain. This work is likely influenced by the Spanish sculptural tradition, as in examples by the Sevillian sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés (1568–1649).

– Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023

Known Provenance
Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.
Exhibition History
  • "Splendors of the Golden Age: Three Centuries of Spanish Colonial Art," Walt Disney World Epcot Center, 1987.