Spain 17th Cty, Large Pained & Gild Wooden Carved Saint Bishop Statue

HAUTE EPOQUE

Important and superb wooden carved statue, gilded and silvered, depicting a full-length Saint bishop on a square base.
Spain, 1st half of 17th century

The most striking is here the extreme decorative richness of the statuary, abundantly overdecorated with gold and silver motifs superimposed on polychromy. This technique is characteristic of Spanish sculpture of the seventeenth century.
*We will note in particular the artificial looking gem with emerald and gold reflections, closing the chasublew worn by the bishop
*the 4 Evangelists (St Matthew, St Mark, St John and St Luke) painted on the bishop's stole (a scarf traditionally part of the garment worn by the ecclesiastes). This scene is itself surmounted by a large Maltese cross
*or the register painted on the back of this same chasuble, with 4 cherubs seeming to celebrate the Virgin Mary -even if the painted decoration here is incomplete.

The intricate work of the various fabrics and folds of the fabrics shows the extreme skill of the sculptor artist and the quality of this work.

The combination of all these elements gives an impressive and canonical posture to our statue.

The type of circular and perfectly symmetrical mitre, in the shape of a dome, here with 3 registers, corresponds to the models found in South of France or Spain.

The statue is no less than 120cm high and impresses with its very strong presence. The face of the Holy Bishop is once again very powerful.

The statue is originally hollow at its back, but the artist has nevertheless taken care to close this cavity with a curved painted and gilded panel that fits perfectly and uniformly to the bishop's body. I've already seen some of them similar ones reserve the surprise of containing unexpected relics inside. In any case, it is possible to walk around the statue, which is not intended to be applied against a wall. 

Base dimensions 40*26cm
and Height 120cm
The statue initially held a crosier in his left hand as evidenced by the 2 holes in the center of his hand and at the base.

Very nice and rare condition. The richness of painted and gilded details of the bishop's iconography and clothing, its size make it a superb statue for any Haute Epoque collection, and a decorative element that can be skilfully combined with even a more modern decoration.