ABSTRACT
The story of the Goan and Sri Lankan ivory statuettes begins in the time period of the Portuguese Discoveries.2 Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, India, in 1498, and Lourenço de Almeida arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1505.3 Along with the goal of gaining dominance in the spice trade, the Portuguese envisioned themselves as purveyors of the Christian faith. Various religious orders and missionaries came to South Asia to begin the process of conversion, bringing with them Christian imagery in the form of engravings, woodcuts, paintings, and sculpture.4 Christian-themed devotional objects in ivory are most prevalent during this time. Under the direction of the religious orders, local artisans well skilled in the carving of ivory were employed to create religious statuettes for the mission enterprise, faithfully copying the Catholic models they used for sculpting. The ivories were meant to serve as images of a new faith in new lands and as tools for conversion and teaching. Many of these ivories were intended for small church and private altars, while some were sent to other Portuguese colonies as well as exported to Europe and the Americas.
