Indo-Portuguese Goa Carved Ivory Devotional Statuette of the Virgin Mary

An Indo-Portuguese Goa Carved Ivory Devotional Statuette of the Virgin Mary Her Hands Clasped in Prayer
The ivory base carved with acanthus leaves
Traces of gesso and polychrome
Slight damage to finger tips and base
Mid 17th Century

Size: 21.5cm high, 6cm wide, 4.5cm deep - 8½ ins high, 2¼ ins wide, 1¾ ins deep

Provenance:
Ex Private collection of a West Country Titled Gentleman

Carved in the Portuguese colony of Goa by a Goanese artist under Portuguese commission, these ivories epitomise the interweaving of European, Indian and Asian decorative and figurative traditions. Missionary institutions were major buyers of religious works of art from local workshops, and the images produced reflect the main interests of the Jesuits and Franciscans and the saints they used in their propagandist and teaching roles. Missionary work had been established in Goa in the late 16th century. The wealth obtained through trade with the East, especially in spices and silks, had generated a desire to spread the Catholic faith along the trade routes. Religious figures such as this were produced to both help convert the local population and to export back to Europe. Much of the ivory used in their carving came from another Portuguese colony: Mozambique in East Africa where its export was strictly controlled.