Beautiful and rare Spanish / Catalan Wooden Santos cage doll - ‘Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows’.  Includes contemporary description with ink script on wooden base: “Es de Narcis Roqueta Neastra De Casa Nos... S_M Dels Dolors 1815”.

This is a striking example with inset glass eyes and realistic, lifelike carved detail in the face and hands. 

Santos dolls take their name from the Spanish word for Saint. Originally comprising part of in-home altars, they were needed in small villages which may have lacked a convenient place of worship. Their development flourished in Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. 

In good solid condition, light sympathetic restoration to fingers and body.