Goan ivory carving depicting the Child Jesus as e Good Shepherd, remarkable for its nely detailed sculptural quality, that reveals the hand of a versed ivory artisan of evident aesthetic talent. e scene featured in this elaborate 17th century composition illustrates the Evangelical episode of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–21), or the Parable of the Lost Sheep, in which Christ looks after and protects his ock—the believers—and brings the lost sheep—the sinner—into the pen. From a meticulously carved terraced hill of oral and zoomorphic decorative elements, emerge elegant palm branches, tted into ori ces to the rear of the sculpture, representing the Tree of Life1. On the mountain summit, the well-proportioned Good Shepherd is defined by round face, strands of short curly hair, hooked nose and ne lips, a set of distinctive traits present in 17th century Indo-Portuguese art. As customary to all Indian depictions of this iconography, the Child is dormant. From Buddha He adopts His attitude of ecstasy2, typi ed by His absent expression of expectant concentration, the closed eyes and hermetic smile, the ngers touching the temples and the right-hand resting face. He is attired in the traditional half-sleeved, knee-length tunic, carved in a faceted diamond tip pattern simulating sheepskin, with plain edges and tied by a cord at the waist. e feet, of nely carved sandals, are crossed. e Good Shepherd carries His traditional attributes: the sta, the waist hanging gourd, and the two sheep, one resting on the left shoulder and the other on His lap, both of diamond tip carved pelts. Beneath the main gure the ock spreads out down the hill, joined by Birds of paradise, symbols of the Souls of the World. Above the Child Jesus, the egy of God Father in ‘ponti cal majesty’, blessing with the right hand and holding the orb with the left, is crowned with the traditional 17th century papal tiara. e Child follows the prototype found in Indo-Portuguese representations of the Good Shepherd, both in attire and in facial features. However, unlike the more common iconographic position of sitting atop a rock, sometimes with His foot on a skull, He rests cross-legged on a heart pierced by a pair of arrows3. is symbol emerged in the late Middle Ages, likely illustrating Saint Augustine’s expression, ‘You have stricken my heart with Your word, and I loved You’ becoming an iconographic attribute of the saint4. Later, the Mystical Transverberation of Saint Teresa in 1560, and a Carmelite nun’s testimony claiming to have seen the Infant Jesus seated on Saint Teresa’s heart, certainly contributed to the spread of this motif.5 e canonical hill-shaped and terraced stand features three superimposed scenes.6 On the rst level the Fountain of Life—Fons Vitae—is bursting from a cup surmounted by two small overlapping fonts supported by a column. e spring symbolizes the ‘Living Water Fountain’ (John 4:10), later the ‘Fountain of Life’ of Biblical tradition, alluding to Christ as the Fountain of Life for the souls, the sheep.7 Allegories to the Divine Word8 are the two Birds of Paradise drinking from the water that gushes from the springs above. Flanking the fountain, Our Lady on the right and Saint Joseph on the left pray. e second-tier features Saint Peter, impassive, kneeling in prayer. He is anked by a column with a rooster perched atop, symbol of his three denials and repentance. is moment refers to the remorse felt by Peter after denying three times that he knew the Lord on the night of His arrest (Mark 14:63), reactions which had been foretold by Christ at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:34). is anguish is likewise felt by Peter when Jesus asks whether he loves Him, thus redeeming his denials (John 21:15–17), culminating in Christ entrusting him with leadership of His Church, telling him ‘Feed my sheep’ (John 21:17), a clear reference to the Good Shepherd.9 From two feline mascarons, with a third above Peter’s head, water ows in two arches into basins, giving drink to two pairs of facing birds. e third level reveals a rocky cave, in which Mary Magdalene, with her long straight hair loose, is seated in an Indian posture with hands clasped over her left knee. To her left stands an alabaster jar, her attribute and symbol of marriage, and to her right a cruci x, another of her insignia. ese elements recall the episode in which the sinful woman anoints Christ’s feet with the perfume from her alabaster vessel, washes His feet with her tears, and dries them with her hair (Luke 7:31–50).10 Two large lions seated on either side ank Mary Magdalene. The base of the pedestal is adorned with a sequence of winged cherub heads, nely sculpted with delicate features and fragments of drapery cascading from the neck across the chest. A small, beaded band frames the lower edge of the pedestal. e sculpture’s iconographical diversity and complexity suggests that its most likely sources of inspiration were European prototypes, widely circulated through prints and engravings, that were assimilated and interpreted by local Indian artisans working from Goa.11 For its evident syncretism, the Good Shepherd is considered the most iconic and original Christian representation, combining Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, that emerged from the Portuguese overseas expansion.12 e artistic and iconographic symbioses of these sculptural compositions constitute a major material testimony to the religious context that produced them, which linked the Church’s concerns regarding the assimilation of the local populations for an easier conversion, to a clear distancing from European prototypes, therefore contributing for the appreciation of these artworks as resulting from an ecient hybridization process.• MSP