Philippine Standing Figure Depicting Saint Roch

Eyes raised, cross in one hand, the other drawing his tunic aside.

This standing figure depicting Saint Roch comes from the Philippines, late 19th or early 20th century, in painted wood. Roch was the saint Catholics called on against plague and disease, and carved figures of saints like this one, known as santos, stood on home altars and in churches across the Philippines. He wears a cape with a shell-like collar, a belted tunic and tall dark boots, and his bearded face looks upward. The paint is thin in places, and a rough wooden block serves as his base. Twenty inches high.

People have asked him for a great deal over the centuries.