Sculpture, Statue – Virgin And Child – Immaculate Conception – Goa, 1681 – Late Period

Late 17th century – Dated in pen 1681 Indo-Portuguese School Former Portuguese colony of Goa Rare devotional sculpture depicting the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception holding the Child Jesus, standing on a stylized globe. Work from the Indo-Portuguese colonial production of Goa, dated in pen on the reverse of the base “1681”, in the flourishing context of missionary art within the Portuguese Empire of the East. The Virgin, represented in a solemn frontality, is dressed in a long dress with stylized drapes and her hair is styled in separate locks. The Child Jesus, seated on her left arm, adopts a blessing attitude and holds a symbolic bird in the other hand. The whole rests on a turned base, decorated with an egg decoration, typical of the ritual bases of Christian statuary exported from Asian trading posts to Europe. This production, at the crossroads of Iberian Baroque and local craft traditions, is distinguished by the tension between Tridentine iconographic rigor and expressive softness. The reverse is also sculpted, indicating a work designed for private devotion, probably intended for a domestic or conventual altar. A lack is to be noted on the left foot of the Child, as well as two old restorations visible on the base. These alterations do not detract from the spiritual force or the rarity of this colonial sculpture, emblematic of religious and artistic circulations between Europe and Asia. Condition: one foot of the Child is missing, two old restorations on the base. Very beautiful homogeneous patina, stable surface. Dimensions: • Height: 17 cm Delivery: fast and secure shipping via DHL Express, with careful packaging and international tracking assured.