"Christ In Carved Ivory. Early 17th Century Period"
Head-to-toe height: 32 cm Width: 24.5 cm With base: 39 cm This very beautiful "vivo" crucifixion Christ is characterized by its slender and youthful appearance. The sculptor took particular care to detail his young, gentle and expressive face as well as his fine musculature with prominent veins. On the other hand, the realization of the perizonium attached by a meticulously drawn and crafted rope. Everything contributes to seeing in this object the work of a Goan artist from the beginning of the 17th century. Unlike the Afro-Portuguese productions of Sierra Leone or Benin, in Goa we are in the presence of images with an essentially religious theme. The Christian history of Goa begins in 1510 with the first Portuguese. Very quickly, religious orders were established: in 1517 the Franciscans settled, followed by the Dominicans in 1547 and the Augustinians in 1572. The Jesuits who arrived in 1542 played a leading role, dominated by the emblematic figure of Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552), "the Apostle of the Indies". Ecclesiastical structures were put in place: in 1534, Goa was erected as a diocese, in 1557 as an archbishopric. The territory was covered with churches, Goa became in the 16th century the "Rome of the East" and it was on this Indian land that a production of religious images in ivory was developed, which combined both originality and great aesthetic quality. Good condition. Sold with a certificate of expertise and a CITES