19th C. Mexican Painted Wood Cross - Folk Art Style

New World, Mexico, ca. 19th century CE. A hand-carved wooden cross upon a pedestal base, constructed from multiple pieces of wood and painted in a charming folk art style. Against a green background, the artist depicted a visage of Christ, his head dripping blood from the crown of thorns, at the center, surrounded by various instruments of the Passion (Arma Christi), including ladders, spears, and pikes representing his placement on the cross and the weapons of the Roman guards. Above him is the seamless robe of Jesus. Above that is a wooden plaque reading "INRI," meaning, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews," the sign nailed above Christ's head as He was dying. Below Christ, on the long arm of the cross, are other instruments of the Passion including a heart dripping into a chalice symbolizing the Holy Grail, a cock on a column that crowed following Peter's third denial of Jesus, a pair of dice with which the soldiers cast lots for Christ's seamless robe, and the skull and crossbones of Golgotha. Size: 14.375" W x 26.25" H (36.5 cm x 66.7 cm)

The rooster or cock on a column is a very ancient Christian symbol, representing the cock whose crow signaled that St. Peter had thrice denied knowing Christ. Although on its face this seems to be a condemnation of Peter's actions, it is meant to represent that a person could redeem himself even after committing one of the worst sins imaginable. Early artists, attempting to recreate the Biblical scene, seem to have struggled with where to place the cock - in a tree? on the ground? in an architectural feature? Slowly, through Roman and later Italian funerary sarcophagi carving, artists established a visual shorthand for the scene where the cock stands atop a Roman-style column. The folk artist who created this cross drew on that nearly-two-millennia-old tradition to paint this motif.

Provenance: private Omer Claiborne collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; acquired over the last 40 years

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#129231
Condition Report: Expected surface wear with pigment losses as shown. Cross is a bit loose but still joined to the pedestal base. Nice original wooden dowels joining upper and lower sections of the base.