Steve Jobs Statuettes Created for Naples Nativity Manger [PHOTOS]

Shops along the narrow Via San Gregorio Armeno Street in Naples specialize in Christmas statues, crèches and trinkets throughout the year.

In recent decades, artists and craftsmen of these shops have been making Neapolitan crèches, pertaining to the southern Italian city of Naples, with statues of prominent figures placed near the nativity scenes.

These statues portray the signs of the times, according to Neapolitan artists.

One such artist, Gennaro Di Virgilio, chooses at least one contemporary character every year, to sculpt and place near the scenes of the traditional story of Jesus' birth in a manger, Reuters reports.

This year, Di Virgilio has created figurines of Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs, who died recenlty at the age of 56 after a long-drawn battle with cancer. The figurine portrays the lean-looking Jobs of later years.

Jobs' statue is shown holding a product depicting Apple‘s logo. The sculpture sports a high-necked black Tee, which resembles that worn by Jobs, at his two most notable public appearances over the last two years.

The figurine is meant to evoke memories of Jobs' presence at the launch of Apple's new tablet computing device (the iPad) in Januay 2010, following which he took a brief medical leave-of-absence before returning to the spotlight to unveil the iPad 2, in March, 2011, in San Francisco.

Earlier this year, Di Virgilio also created figures of Britain's Prince William and his fiancée, Kate Middleton in March, 2011, ahead of their royal wedding.

In Dec. 2010, the artist placed a statue of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in a Neapolitan Christmas creche. Only one copy of the Assange statuette was reportedly made available for sale. According to reports, the statue costs, approximately, 130 Euros ($177).