Saint Peter in a Chair Carving, 17th Century, Polychrome Wood

Spanish or Italian School;
17th century.
"Saint Peter as Pope."
Carved and polychrome wood.
Textile.

Dimensions: 37 x 21 x 17 cm;

It can be made to stand upright and is articulated.
The base is covered with textile, simulating a carpet, the gestational chair, and a foot cushion. It could be said that this is a sculptural ensemble featuring Saint Peter as Pope. The wooden saint was conceived as a dressing figure and is dressed in papal robes, particularly the large miter.
Dressing figures were often used in processions; in this case, it is a figure intended for private devotion, given its small size.
The visible parts are covered with a thin layer of stucco and polychrome, while the rest is covered with royal robes. These images were particularly popular for their naturalism, since wearing authentic clothing achieved a greater degree of realism than simply carved ones, which often lacked sufficient quality to achieve the level of naturalism so sought after in religious art since the Baroque.
Saint Peter (Bethsaida, c. 1 BC – Rome, 67) was, according to the New Testament, a fisherman, known as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. The Catholic Church identifies him through apostolic succession as the first Pope, based, among other arguments, on the words Jesus spoke to him: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Saint Peter could be said to have been Jesus' confessor, his closest disciple, and the two were united by a very special bond, as narrated in both the canonical and apocryphal Gospels.