Lot Essay
It has been suggested that the head could depict St. Francis of Assisi. For a figure comparable to the Holy Child, see the example included in the Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, 1990 exhibition, Images of Faith, and illustrated in colour, Catalogue, p.55, discussed by Regalado Trota Jose on pp.28-30; and another, included in The British Museum and O.C.S. 1984 Exhibition, Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, illustrated in the Catalogue, p.42, fig.5. See also ibid., p.38 for a discussion on the Christian ivory carvings commissioned by the Spanish, where the authors quote Bishop Salazar, writing to the King of Spain in 1590 "....and I think that nothing more perfect could be produced than some of their ivory statues of the Child Jesus which I have seen." For a further explanation of the Sino-Spanish trade and the Zhangzhou School ivory carvings, see footnote to lot 67.