New Jesuit Sources on the Iconography of the Good Shepherd Rockery from Portuguese India: the Garden of Shepherds of Miguel de Almeida (1658)

The Good Shepherd Rockery is the only original iconography developed in the ivory carving tradition of Portuguese India. Despite the large production of these statuettes, the scarcity of written sources and the untracked diffusion of such artworks did not allow the clear understanding of the origina...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gusella, Francesco (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2019]
In: Journal of Jesuit studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 6, Issue: 4, Pages: 577-597
IxTheo Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
CE Christian art
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KBM Asia
KCA Monasticism; religious orders
KDB Roman Catholic Church
Further subjects:B Jesuit art
B ivory Good Shepherd
B Konkani literature
B Miguel de Almeida
B Indo-Portuguese ivories
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Description
Summary:The Good Shepherd Rockery is the only original iconography developed in the ivory carving tradition of Portuguese India. Despite the large production of these statuettes, the scarcity of written sources and the untracked diffusion of such artworks did not allow the clear understanding of the original purposes of this iconography. The present essay wishes to establish a comparison between the artworks' iconography and the prologue of the Onvalleancho Mallo (Garden of Shepherds) by the Jesuit Miguel de Almeida (1607-83), published in Goa in 1658. This doctrinal work presents a detailed interpretation of pastoral images which perfectly overlaps with the artworks' iconography. Almeida's work represents the best documentation for the interpretation of the iconography as it was circulating in the missionary discourse of Portuguese India. It suggests that the statuettes symbolized the eschatological role of the missionary clergy and the Catholic Church though the didactic use of pastoral allegories.
ISSN:2214-1332
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Jesuit studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22141332-00604002