Ivory Nino Dormido, Goa India, 17th Century
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DESCRIPTION: This is an authentic and RARE elephant ivory carving of the Nino Dormido de Jesus (Sleeping Infant Jesus). The ivory age lines and the styling (hairstyle and facial features) traces its origin from Goa India and during the middle Baroque period (1630-1680). Many Goanese (Indo-Portuguese) ivory figures at that time were mass produced and as a result the way the hands were separated from the body was hastily done thereby producing a rough finish at the space between the body and hands. It seems like a tool has been driven in between the hands and torso and the carver never took the time to refine or polish this portion although the carver shows his mastery in carving with the rest of the piece. One can find more information on the pricing, history and availability of these pieces by googling for Goa Ivory, Indo Portuguese, Hispano Portuguese, Nino Dormido subjects over the internet. There are two similar pieces currently for sale for a hefty sum and both are Hispano Philippine. PLEASE E-MAIL US IF YOU NEED MORE INFO.
DIMENSIONS: 5" high X 1.5" wide X1.25" deep
WEIGHT: 3.1 oz.
HISTORY:
Here is a brief history of how these ivory figures came to be produced in Goa India. The ivory carvers of India were reluctant to use local ivory sources because elephants were considered to be sacred and were mainly used for work. The ivory used to make sculptures in Goa was therefore imported from the east coast of Africa, from the Sofala region and from the island of Zanzibar, an important area for ivory trade.
From the start of the Portuguese colonization in the 16th century, the production of religious images made from ivory developed in Goa which was called “Rome of the East”. These “Indo-Portuguese” representations which can be found today in museums, rarely at antique dealers and in auction rooms, in Portugal, Europe and on the other side of the Atlantic, in Brazil and Mexico. Bernardo Ferrão de Tavares e Távora, one of the first people to have studied them, gave the following definition: "They are sculptures made in Asia by indigenous craftsmen, initially under the aegis of the Portuguese missions, copying Western designs, taking inspiration from them or recreating them with their own variations”. This lead to the meeting of two worlds – the Western world and the Asian world.
The tradition of cribs is highly esteemed in Portugal and it continued in India. Although few complete examples remain, the isolated, small pieces which still exist today lead us to believe that they belonged to sets produced in large quantities. We can also find examples of sculpted cribs on the plinths of the famous Good Shepherds. They are generally large pieces. The small size of this piece – 13 cm – suggests that it belonged to a crib. Here the baby Jesus is portrayed to be lying in a bed sucking a forefinger like those that were found in Portugal during the 17th and 18th centuries; on some models, the child is richly adorned with jewelry worn in the Indian style, with chains on the arms, around the waist and on the feet. Ivory carvings of this type are called Indo-Portuguese. There are similar more anatomically correct perhaps larger up to 60 cm carvings made from the Philippines called Hispano-Philippine. These were likewise influenced by Chinese carvers who immigrated to the Philippines and are sometimes called Sino-Philippine carvings. The Sino-Philippine carvings have a more distinct “Chinese eyes”, large round bellies (like that of Budhha) and oversized legs.
