After their arrival in the Philippines in the 1560s, the Spanish began to commission ivory and wood carvings of Christian images from Chinese craftsmen in Zhangzhou, a city on the Fujian coast across the South China Sea from Manila. Later, Chinese craftsmen also worked in the Philippines.

This figure of the Virgin, carved in wood with face and hands of ivory and a silver halo, dates from the eighteenth century and is a relatively late example of this kind of work. The image remains faithful in most respects to the Spanish model, but the Virgin sits on a rock in the manner of the Chinese goddess Guanyin. The decoration on her robe is a combination of Western and Chinese patterns. On the unfinished and unpainted base of the sculpture is a Chinese inscription written in ink with a brush that instructs the decorator as to the colors to be used for the various patterns.