Fanal with Christ Child leaning and porcelain basket

This fanal provides a marquetry base. The figure of Child Jesus rests naked on a small mattress. The whole atmosphere is richly decorated with flowers, fruits, orange blossoms bouquets, leaves of different colors, as well as a porcelain basket that can be seen behind Him.
The Museo de Artes de la Universidad de los Andes, Santiago de Chile, exhibits a group of 16 "fanales". A "fanal" is a structure that consists of a wooden base on which a bell glass or bell jar is mounted, used in Europe during the eighteenth century for scientific and decorative purposes. When transferred to Latin America it takes a totally different character: a “fanal” becomes a devotional object from the moment a religious Christian figure is placed in the inside.