Fanal with Christ Child reclined and with shoes and pearls

A figure of Christ Child resting on a small mattress is the most frequent depiction inside a fanal. In this case, the Child is leaning on his right arm, wearing a robe with lace and embroidery, and small shoes embellished with pearls. A garland completes the setting, where some kinds of flowers, such as myosotis, pansies, roses and cornflowers, can be identified.
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.