Artwork

Collections Menu
Advanced Search
San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter P. Cecere.

Natural Branch Cross

San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter P. Cecere.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Peter P. Cecere.
Contact us at copyright@samuseum.org for rights and reproduction of this image.

Natural Branch Cross

Artist:
Date: mid- 20th century
Place made:Pichincha province, Ecuador
Dimensions:
h. 56 in. (142.2 cm); w. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Peter P. Cecere
Object number: 2006.1.332
Exhibition History: Pasión popular!: Spanish and Latin American Folk Art from the Cecere Collection (San Antonio Museum of Art), April 06, 2013–August 18, 2013.
Label Text
This cross comes from the community of Pomasqui, just north of the Ecuadorian capital city of Quito. Pomasqui is home to El Señor del Arbol, a sculpture of Christ shaped from the trunk and branches of a quishuar tree. The sculpture, like the quishuar, has healing properties and is venerated by the surrounding community. This style of cross is a popular devotional symbol for El Señor del Arbol; this example is distinctive in its inclusion of an engraving of the Virgin de El Quinche, a prominent Marian devotion from Quito, at the confluence of is branches.

Esta cruz proviene de la comunidad de Pomasqui, situada al norte de Quito donde se localiza la capilla del Señor del Árbol. Esta devoción representa a un Cristo tallado en madera de quishuar. La escultura, como el quishuar, tiene propiedades curativas y es venerada por la comunidad que la rodea. Esta cruz es un símbolo devocional popular del Señor del Árbol. Este ejemplo se distingue por la inclusión de un grabado de la Virgen de El Quinche, una destacada devoción mariana de Quito, en la confluencia de sus ramas.

(LA, 2020)
On view
In Collection(s)


The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.