nice sculpture

Mexican artisan Javier Ramirez celebrates the Christian story of Noah's ark with this "tree of life" sculpture. In the center, Noah stands alongside a giraffe and an elephant, flanked by birds and butterflies. Floral designs surround the central composition. Each piece is diligently crafted from ceramic and painted by hand, assembled by steel wire.

Not intended for use with candles.

Delicately sculpted in white stone, this exquisite nativity scene depicts the birth of the Christ child in pristine purity. Juan Licas Coronado creates the inspiring scene in Huamanga stone, quarried in the central sierra of Peru. Its texture and color are similar to that of alabaster. Because of the material's texture, the artisan must work with extreme caution, using fine chisels, burins, and drills to achieve a singular work of art.

Licas Coronado names this piece for the town of his own birth, Acos Vinchos. The set includes eight statuettes, sculpted by hand.

Alejandro Chávez depicts Saint Martín de Porres, a Dominican brother born in Lima in 1579. Trained in the medical arts, Martin worked in the convent infirmary but also showed great compassion to the sick outside the convent. Chávez crafts the wooden box to house this retablo, or diorama, and paints it in bright colors. The figures are carefully modeled from ceramic plaster and painted by hand.

A gentle llama offers shelter to the Holy Family in this cheerful nativity scene by Guillermo and Eduardo. Mary and Joseph are dressed in the traditional garments of southern Peru, while the llama wears colorful acrylic threads. A cow, a sheep and a donkey accompany the scene—each piece crafted from ceramic and painted by hand.

Celestial scenes inhabit the upper composition of this altar, as figures in traditional Andean attire celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ beneath a rich, floral canopy. This form of Peruvian folk art is known as the retablo, especially characteristic of the Ayacucho region. The frame is crafted by hand from wood, while Alejandro Chávez fills the shelves with tiny ceramic characters painted to joyous perfection.