Indio Pícaro

The indio pícaro (saucy Indian) is a traditional Chilean wooden statuette referencing a Mapuche Indian with a broad smile that, when the body is lifted, shows an erect penis or pubic hair (Guacolda or india pícara).

Some sources cite that the indio pícaro was created in 1980 by Jorge Medina Ramirez, a self-taught artisan who along with his friends - and as a challenge to their boss - had to copy a doll Apache articulated in a way that hid their "attributes" under a loincloth, to send as a joke to a friend in Santiago.

Over time it gained fame, Medina received a large number of orders, and he decided to manufacture a series.

In 1990 the Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle bought several of these statues in Casablanca, in a fact captured by the Chilean and foreign press.

[3] These statuettes, which generally do not exceed 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in height, began to be sold in Santiago in the early 1990s and quickly became popular.