Rara placa de marfim representando uma cena da vida de Santa Catarina de Alexandria, uma das primeiras e mais célebres virgens mártires Cristãs reconhecida como modelo de juventude, sabedoria, conhecimento e perseverança.

Esta pequena placa de formato retangular emoldurada por duplo friso retrata, muito possivelmente, a cena do milagre da quebra da roda. No primeiro plano da composição, Catarina é representada ao centro, ajoelhada, com o corpo voltado para a esquerda, e com as mão juntas em oração com uma expressão serena e mística. A santa apresenta longas vestes, com túnica e manto, e um halo sob a cabeça, denunciando a sua santidade. Sobre ela, São Miguel Arcanjo, aparece por entre nuvens com recorte chinês em pleno voo segurando uma espada na mão direita, um dos atributos de Santa Catarina. À direita da composição, um soldado, voltado para a esquerda assiste à cena central.

De acordo com a sua hagiografia, Catarina, uma princesa pagã, nascida na cidade de Alexandria no Egipto, durante o final do século III, que cedo se dedicara ao estudo da filosofia, ciência e medicina. Com catorze anos de idade, tornou-se Cristã, dedicando o resto da sua vida ao Cristianismo, convertendo milhares de pessoas à religião. Como uma jovem mulher determinada, com apenas dezoito anos, Catarina confrontou o imperador pagão Maxêncio, contestando a perseguição aos Cristãos e condenando a adoração a deuses falsos. Em resposta, Maxêncio aprisionou-a numa casa de tortura e pediu a cinquenta filósofos a confrontassem a doutrina Cristã de Catarina em um debate. Conforme diz a sua lenda, o arcanjo S. Miguel, descendo dos céus, terá visitado Catarina na prisão antes da realização deste debate. Movida pela força do Espírito Santo e pelas palavras consoladoras do arcanjo, Catarina defendeu sua fé e fez um discurso eloquente, convertendo os oradores ao Cristianismo. O imperador, descontente com o resultado do debate, ordenou a execução imediata de todos os pagãos convertidos e a prisão de Catarina. Enquanto esteve presa, foi torturada das mais terríveis formas, mas nunca abandonou a sua fé, convertendo inúmeros pagãos que a visitaram na prisão, incluindo a esposa do imperador, sendo logo de seguida por ele executada. Às ordens de Maxêncio, Catarina foi mandada executar na roda.

This rare carved ivory plaque carries a scene of the Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, one of the most popular early Christian saints and virgin martyrs, remembered as a model of youth, wisdom, knowledge, and perseverance.

This small plaque of rectangle form with a thin double-moulding portraits, most probably, the scene of the miracle of the broken spike wheel. Depicted in the foreground, the figure of Saint Catherine of Alexandria appears placed in the centre, kneeling on a grass landscape, facing left, with her hands together in prayer in a serene and mystical expression. She wears long robes and a simple halo, designed over her head exposing her sanctity. Above her, in a flying motion, the archangel Saint Michael appears in the sky surrounded by a background of curling clouds, holding a sword in his right hand - one of the attributes known of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. On the right side of the composition, a soldier with his body turned right faces the central scene.

According to her hagiography, Catherine was born a pagan princess in Alexandria, Egypt in the late 3rd century, and from an early age, studied philosophy, science, and medicine. At the age of fourteen, became a Christian and dedicated the rest of her life to Christianity, converting hundreds of people. As a strong-minded young woman, only eighteen years old, Catherine confronted the pagan emperor Maxentius, protesting the persecution of Christians and the worshiping of false gods. In response, Maxentius imprisoned her in a torture house and later asked fifty philosophers to confront her Christian doctrine in a debate. As stated in her legend, prior to the debate, the archangel Saint Michael, descending from Heaven, visited her in prison and gave her strength to confront the wise men. Moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the comforting words of the archangel, Catherine defended her faith and delivered an intensely eloquent speech, converting the orators to Christianism. Unhappy with the debate’s outcome, Maxentius ordered the immediate execution of all converted pagans and Catherine’s arrest. While imprisoned, she was tortured in the most awful ways, however, never abandoned her faith. Catherine managed to convert a great number of people who visited her in prison, including the emperor’s wife, which was subsequently executed by him. Following Maxentius orders, Catherine was to be executed on a breaking wheel, an especially brutal ancient torture instrument made with spikes used to cause the most painfully slow death. However, standing before it and by only touching it, Catherine miraculously broke the spiked wheel. Despite this miracle and all her efforts, she was rapidly put to death by beheading .

This beautifully carved plaque of superior technical quality demonstrates the fine work of ivory craftsmanship of the seventeenth century. The precision and finesse of the carving are especially noticeable on Catherine’s vestment’s drapery - the mantle and tunic falling in natural folds. The small clouds of spiralised design are worked in a typical Chinese manner. The Asian features, such as elongated oval faces and long streamlined fingers, found on the figures point also to a Chinese workshop.

With the establishment of the Portuguese in Macao in 1544 and the subsequent development of the Sino-Portuguese relations of trade and commerce, missionary actions were held on Chinese grounds. Missionaries, especially Jesuits, brought Christianity to China, catechizing large populations, and constructing new churches. The necessity of production of images and objects to act as visual references in overseas catechisation missions led to the exploitation of non-Christians local artisans. Liturgical objects produced during this time in China, such as ivory portable oratories and plaques, used in public worship and private devotion, were based on European models but produced with indigenous techniques. Paintings, illustrated books, engravings, and prints were used as a source of inspiration to produce such objects.

On this ivory plaque, the arrangement of the figures in the composition discloses the inspiration of a European model, specifically, an engraving from Vita S. Catharinæ, Virg. Et Martyris, Catharina virgo Ægyptia, Alexandriæ regio, generenata, An. Christi circiter CCCVII, a collection of sixteen Flemish plates of the life of Saint Catherine, after Adriaen Collaert (1560-1618), probably engraved by Adriaen or Jan II Collaert (1561-1620) and published by Carel Collaert (1598-1654) between 1613 and 1654 (Fig.1). The Collaerts, were an important Antwerpian family of reproductive engravers, book illustrators and print publishers, having engraved, and published a large number of prints . The plate that we believe served as inspiration for this plaque contains the Latin inscription ‘Rota ad virginis corpus dilacerandum comparata, ea orante mox confringitur’ - The wheel has been procured to tear the maiden's body, and it is soon broken when she prays’. The three figures, Saint Catherine, the archangel, and the soldier, are located and positioned in the same place in the engraving and plaque. The artist has opted not to copy the composition entirely, lefting out important elements such as the spiked wheel, one of the attributes of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. This detail demonstrates that, probably, the artist was not fully aware of the legend of Saint Catherine or sacred history in general, as most local indigenous artisans were not catechized. Only one soldier is depicted on the plaque’s composition, located on the right, the figure is portrayed in a different position than the soldier depicted in the engraving. This contrasting detail was possibly a free-will decision of the artist or can, perhaps, indicate that other sources of inspiration were used.

The cult of Saint Catherine of Alexandria spread across Europe during the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods. In art, Saint Catherine was a popular subject. Van der Weyden, Raphael, Caravaggio, and many other great artists have depicted her in their paintings. In Portugal, the cult of Saint Catherine was particularly popular during the reign of King John III of Portugal (1502-1507) and Queen Catherine of Austria (1507-1578). Both King and Queen favoured an onomastic devotion as exposed, for example, on the two portraits attributed to Cristovão Lopes (c.1564), where King John III appears depicted next to Saint John the Baptist, and Queen Catherine next to Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Another example of the devotion of Catherine of Austria is an earlier painting from Domingos Carvalho dated circa 1525-1527, where she is painted simultaneously as Queen of Portugal and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with the spiked wheel and sword, the attributes of this martyr . Also, an altarpiece depicting the life of the saint attributed to Garcia Fernandes was commissioned by King John III of Portugal, for the Goa Cathedral in the 1530s. In 1510, on the feast day of Saint Catherine, Goa was captured from the Islamic sultans of Bijapur by the hands of the governor of Portuguese India, Afonso de Albuquerque. A year after the conquest, a church in the name of Saint Catherine was founded by the governor, later rebuilt in 1514-1532, and elevated to the status of Cathedral of Goa, the capital of the State of India . The large multi-panelled altarpiece commissioned for the cathedral, attributed to Garcia Fernandes, arrived in Goa in 1539, being replaced almost a century later, in 1634, by a new gilded altarpiece ordered by Viceroy Count of Linhares . Seven detached panels from the former Goan altarpiece by Fernandes in fairly poor condition are currently displayed in the sacristy of the cathedral. A recent iconographic and stylistic study on the remaining panels of the altarpiece confirmed the influence of German, Flemish and Italian former engravings, from which the Collaerts also drew inspiration for the collection of engravings on the Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria .

This single ivory plaque could have been part of a small portable altarpiece that would feature other panels with different scenes of the Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The choice of the life of Saint Catherine as a subject for visual tools during the evangelising times was extremely pertinent. Catherine was a steadfast figure, remembered for her eloquent speeches and converting successes, naturally an example to follow by the missionaries and potential converts.