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Lot 303A
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17th C. Spanish Colonial Group | St. Nicholas and the Pickled Children
17th C. Spanish Colonial Group | St. Nicholas and the Pickled Children
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Central American or Andean workshop production, ca. 17th–18th century CE. A devotional polychrome and parcel-gilt wood sculpture depicting the miraculous resurrection of the three children, the most celebrated legend associated with St. Nicholas of Myra — known in popular tradition as the "Miracle of the Pickled Children." Three identical kneeling youths rise from an oval tub in attitudes of prayer, hands joined before the chest in the moment of divine restoration. The figures retain traces of original flesh-tone polychrome over a gesso ground, with curling hair rendered in dark pigment. The oval tub base preserves substantial areas of red bole preparation beneath fragmentary gold leaf, the characteristic ground of Spanish and Colonial gilded woodwork. Size: 2.2" L x 7.5" W x 7.4" H (5.6 cm x 19 cm x 18.8 cm)

The composition belongs to a well-established hagiographic type found across Spanish, Flemish, and French devotional sculpture from the medieval period through the Baroque, carried into the Americas by Colonial workshops of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Sotheby's Parke Bernet, ca. 1975

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Item # 201949

  • Condition: Repainted and retouched in areas. Losses to head of proper right-most figure. Chipping, losses, nicks, and abrasions as shown, as well as some small areas of old, inactive insect damage. Rich patina and liberal remaining pigments. A visually compelling and iconographically legible example of Colonial devotional carving.

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by Artemis Fine Arts
June 11, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $749 $25
$750 $1,499 $50
$1,500 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $7,499 $250
$7,500 $14,999 $500
$15,000 + $1,000