I imagine she was carved to be a display piece, though she seems to represent perhaps Mary with a Christ child held at her side, I don't think it is. A chipped triangular base might suggest she was a devotional figure made for a creche or as grouping for a Catholic cathedral, but a closer look shows her with a more Roman style of dress, and quite likely a fertility figure, one arm holding sheaves of wheat, and the other with an active child. Time has taken her arms, left her hands and those beautiful shoulders. There is age! There is some very old woodworm loss, as you can see. Makes her all the more charming. I love nothing more than a few weeks in museums, and if you'll notice, most all of the old carvings displayed will show similar loss to that pesky wood worm, and yet they are works of art just the same. Venus de Milo lost her arms to time, and is no less the work of art! I see this one displayed upright, a dowel or wire post inserted at bottom and then into a weighted acrylic or wood plinth so she stands raised an inch or two above the plinth. She could definitely be older than 18th century. I feel safe claiming 18th century or earlier.
Good to very good, age and type considered. Yes, she has losses, but what remains is elegant and beautiful to any sensitive eye for art. Carved of a single piece of wood, she is 10" tall and 3" at widest (hips). She's lost her arms, has some wood worm damage as noted above. She isn't perfect, but she's still a beauty, and a lovely figure, remnant. Full measurements noted on the photos.
