Ex votos, from the Latin word for a vow, are offerings made by the pious in thanks for the fulfilment of a prayer. They come in many forms. Thin stamped silver representations of body parts, like this face, usually acknowledge recovery from an accident or disease, and were often deposited at the shrine or altar of the saint whose help had been invoked.

Juan Facundo Riaño, the Museum's 'correspondent for art objects in Madrid', bought this object for the Museum for three shillings and nine pence in Barcelona in 1871.