The Good Shepherd thumbnail 1
The Good Shepherd thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

The Good Shepherd

Figure Group
ca. 1650 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This object was created in the Portuguese colony of Goa in about 1650. Similar ivories are to be found in most large collections and there are several exemplars in the V&A. 'The Mount of Christ as the Good Shepherd' is a common subject in Indo-Portuguese ivories, and seems to be unique to Goa. The figure of God the Father, carved in relief above the Christ Child, represents the Holy Spirit.
Although the precise parallels and/or sources in Indian are uncertain, this distinctive composition recurs again and again in Goan ivories, and the combination of the Christ Child in the guise of the shepherd with saints, a fountain, vegetation and animals suggest the richness of the natural world, in conjunction with Christian imagery. His seated pose, asleep, recalls images of the Buddha in Indian art. Ivory carving had a long tradition on the Indian subcontinent, and elaborate works of art were made, particularly as diplomatic gifts, often presented to Western rulers. Most of the ivory would have been exported from Mozambique in East Africa.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Good Shepherd (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Carved ivory
Brief description
Figure group, ivory, 'The Mount of the Good Shepherd', Indo-Portuguese (Goa), ca. 1650
Physical description
Group figure in carved ivory. The Christ Child as the Good Shepherd is seated above a mount formed by three tiers; at the top birds and sheep drink from a fountain; below are five sheep. Above the Good Shepherd is a separate relief of God the Father. The Christ Child is seated asleep resting his cheek against his right hand, his ankles crossed. He wears a gourd bottle slung round his waist, and a wallet round his right shoulder. On his left knee he holds a lamb. The base is hollowed out to form three caves, in the centre of which St Mary Magdalene reclines reading a book, while in the other two are lions. The stem at the back with God the Father and a dove representing the Holy Spirit has five pairs of stumps with holes, into which ivory branches would have been fitted. The four holes on the rounded base in which the Christ Child sits would probably have held four more branches.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24.6cm
Style
Gallery label
(March 2009)
The Mount of Christ as the Good Shepherd is a common subject in Indo-Portuguese ivories, and seems to be unique to Goa. The figure of God the Father, carved in relief above the Christ Child, represents the Holy Spirit.
Object history
This object was created in the Portuguese colony of Goa in about 1650. It was bought in London in 1921 from J.W. Brooks.
Similar ivories are to be found in most large collections and there are several exemplars in the V&A.
This is a common subject in Indo-Portuguese ivories. Although the precise parallels and/or sources in Indian are uncertain, this distinctive composition recurs again and again in Goan ivories, and the combination of the Christ Child in the guise of the shepherd with saints, a fountain, vegetation and animals suggest the richness of the natural world, in conjunction with Christian imagery.
Historical context
Goa (on the West Coast of India) was a Portuguese colony at this time, and the style of carving combines Indian with European traditions. This subject is particular to Goan Indo-Portuguese ivories.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This object was created in the Portuguese colony of Goa in about 1650. Similar ivories are to be found in most large collections and there are several exemplars in the V&A. 'The Mount of Christ as the Good Shepherd' is a common subject in Indo-Portuguese ivories, and seems to be unique to Goa. The figure of God the Father, carved in relief above the Christ Child, represents the Holy Spirit.
Although the precise parallels and/or sources in Indian are uncertain, this distinctive composition recurs again and again in Goan ivories, and the combination of the Christ Child in the guise of the shepherd with saints, a fountain, vegetation and animals suggest the richness of the natural world, in conjunction with Christian imagery. His seated pose, asleep, recalls images of the Buddha in Indian art. Ivory carving had a long tradition on the Indian subcontinent, and elaborate works of art were made, particularly as diplomatic gifts, often presented to Western rulers. Most of the ivory would have been exported from Mozambique in East Africa.
Bibliographic references
  • Pr. Strzygowski, Origin of Christian Church Art, trans. O.M. Dalton and H.J. Braunholtz, 1924, pp. 122, 158
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929 pp. 113-114, pl. XCI
  • Theuerkauff, Christian, ed. Elfenbein, Sammlung Reiner Winkler, Vol I (of two volumes), Munich, 1984 n. 4 on p. 225
  • Trusted, Marjorie, ‘The Same but Different: Baroque Ivories and Reproductions’, in: Cupperi, W. (ed.), Multiples in Pre-Modern Art, Zurich, 2013
  • Trusted, Marjorie, ‘Survivers of a Shipwreck: Ivories from a Manila Galleon of 1601’, in: Hispanic Research Journal, vol. 14, no. 5, 2013 fig. 10
  • Trusted, Marjorie, Baroque & Later Ivories, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013 pp. 368, 369
  • Trusted, Marjorie, Baroque & Later Ivories, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, pp. 368, 369, cat. no. 361
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, pp. 113-114, pl. XCI
Collection
Accession number
A.38-1921

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Record createdNovember 4, 2002
Record URL
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