Italian wood carving Cap i pota 17th c.

Antique wooden carving “Cap i pota” with articulated cloth arms made of pine wood carved and polychromed and dressed with the original upper part.

The clothing of the carving is very old, so there is wear in several areas, this gives it an absolutely beautiful character that shows the antiquity of the piece.

Exceptional piece, it is a unique piece.

Cap i pota’ literally means: sculpture with head and feet.

Broadly speaking, these are carved and polychromed wooden images, in which only the visible parts are carved, i.e. the head and the extremities (hands and legs).  The body is slightly insinuated into the wood and the image’s own clothing is placed on the frame.

Although the name is used for all these carvings with the characteristic of not being worked on the part that is hidden under the clothing, the Catalan “Cap i Pota” sculptures are very different from the dressed sculptures of other regions known as “de candelero”, which only have a bust and wooden strips on the lower part. The Catalan ones, unlike the latter, have a rough-hewn body and carved feet.

This type of carving is part of popular religious imagery.  They were mainly used in private homes and private oratories as a ritual of devotion, in urban and rural areas, and are, in short, a living reminder of the culture and traditions that marked an era.

Measurements: Height 77cms x Width 35cms x Depth 26cms

Origin: Italy