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This lovely 1880s image of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus with beautifully–articulated ivory faces and hands is a faithful representation of “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados” or Our Lady of the Abandoned, originally venerated in Valencia, Spain and also venerated in the Philippines in Santa Ana, Manila, Marikina city, and Muntinlupa city. The attributes of the original Spanish–Valencian/Catalan Marian title “Mare de Deu dels Desamparats” include a staff of lilies held by the right hand and the Child Jesus carrying a cross on the left hand; they symbolize the Virgin Mary’s and the Child Jesus’ love for the poor, sick, disabled, and marginalized. No, this tabletop image does not have the head tilted forward as in the Valencia original, which earned that icon the affectionate albeit impious monicker of “Geperudeta” (“The Hunchback of Valencia”). The Virgin Mary wears a long wig of “jusi” fibers and a silvergilt “corona imperial”; the Child Jesus wears a longish wig of “jusi” fibers and a small silvergilt “corona.” The previous owner had the images dressed expensively with “tunicas” and “capas” of metal thread embroidery by “Talleres de Maximo Vicente” in the 1970s. The Virgin Mary stands on a gilded and polychromed wooden “peana” (pedestal) carved with stylized flowers and fruits characteristic of the 1880s. Based on the high quality of the ivory, the exquisite singular carving of the faces and hands, and the archetypal woodwork, this was the production of a master “santero” belonging to the “Gremio de Escultores” in Santa Cruz, Manila. These tabletop (“de vestir” or dressed) “santos”/images with ivory faces and hands in glass “virinas” (domes/ cloches) were the favored religious icons of the Filipino landed class who became rich from agriculture and trading during the Spanish colonial era (1565–1898) and an additional half century afterwards (up to the 1950s). Although they look Victorian and nineteenth century, there are fine and pristine early examples dating from as early as the 1570s documented by the Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla and the Museo Oriental de Real Colegio de Los Padres Agustinos in Valladolid, Spain. It means that they were produced concurrently with the successive renaissance, baroque, rococo, neoclassical statuary of the old Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, and Augustinian Recollect churches in the islands as well as the naïve folk santos in indio “bahay kubo”/ quonset huts. The prevalent theory that they were only produced from the late eighteenth century onwards was debunked. However, the fact that they were crafted by migrant “Sangley” Chinese artisans and their indio assistants still holds after four hundred years. Las Islas Filipinas had several comic stories of aristocratic dons and donas in the rich agricultural provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, Laguna, and Batangas who could only invoke Heaven in front of Caucasian–looking, pale, lovely, dashing ivory santos in their altars at home (the exceptions were the frequently miraculous Mexican– crafted “Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno” of Quiapo and the “Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buenviaje” of Antipolo; although it must be remembered that the two images actually had “encarna” or paintwork on their faces and hands which made them look more palatably “mestizo”/“mestiza” during the 1800s and the previous centuries (as proven by antique photographs); on hindsight, Jose Rizal and his “ilustrado” contemporaries never saw the Nazareno and the Virgen de la Paz in their current 2024 organic/nonpainted states; they would be horrified). These highly–prized and lovingly–cherished ivory santos were only eclipsed in favor of the “more artistic” folk and classical images in tropical hardwoods beginning in the iconoclastic 1960s and reaching a point of no return in collectors’ tastes in the 2000s. A Spanish wooden image of “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados” is venerated in Santa Ana church, Manila. It was carved in Valencia, Spain in 1713 and was presented to the original image at the cathedral; when it arrived in Manila in 1717, it was brought to the church of the ancient, precolonial “Namayan” settlement beside the Rio Pasig, renamed Santa Ana, and became its titular patroness. The Marian title “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados” is also the titular patroness of Marikina city and Muntinlupa city in the NCR National Capital Region. The devotion to “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados” (“Mare de Deu dels Desamparats” – Valencian/Catalan) originated in Valencia, Spain. In 1409, a Mercedarian friar Joan Jofre came upon a mentally ill man being lynched by a crowd; invoking his religious authority, he promptly stopped it. Friar Jofre, moved by the cruel incident, preached about caring for the mentally ill and forthwith established a hospice facility for them. Finally in 1414, a brotherhood to care for the mentally ill was established under the patronage of “Sancta dels Folls Doña Nostra I Desamparats Innocents” (Our Lady of the Insane and the Forsaken Innocents). The mandate eventually expanded to include the abandoned children, the homeless, indigent hospital patients, shipwrecked sailors, and prostitutes of Valencia. The hospital established by the brotherhood for the mentally ill and other marginalized patients --- “Hospital de los Innocentes” --- became the very first mental hospital in the world. “El feren els Angels” (Made by the Angels): Valencian tradition has it that in the early 1400s, 3 angels disguised as pilgrims came and volunteered to create an image of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus within 3 days. They were taken to a hermitage where they requested to work in seclusion. After 4 days, the pilgrims could no longer be found and and there was only a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. Many favors, many cures, specially to the marginalized and disabled, occurred with the popular veneration of the image of “Mare de Deu dels Folls, Innocents I Desamparats.” The widely–venerated, extremely–cherished, 500 year–old, 15th century image was almost totally destroyed by the Republican Communists during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) but was masterfully restored afterwards. The female name Amparo, a Spanish and Portuguese word meaning refuge, shelter, and protection is directly derived from the Marian title “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados”/”Nossa Senhora do Amparo.” Many baby girls in Old Filipinas were baptized with the name Amparo, Maria Amparo, Maria del Amparo in honor of the Virgin Mary. The devotion to “Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados” in Valencia along with that of “Nuestra Senora del Pilar” in Zaragoza and “La Macarena” in Sevilla are the principal Marian devotions in Spain. (Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III)