An image of Our Lady of the Conception with the Infant Jesus delicately carved from ivory, set on a square stepped base, composed of four sections joined with mortise and tenon - figure, crescent moon, stem and base, with the tenon joining the crescent and the figure made from ebony. The type of square stepped base is typical of the Ceylonese production, its use stemming from the stepped bases of Hindu idols, or murti, being common in the carved rock crystal statuettes representing the Child Jesus Saviour of the World. In our example, this connection with devotional Hindu images - whose worship or loving devotion (bhakti) to Balakrishna (Baby Krishna) was used in favour of the conversion of the Ceylonese at the hands of the Franciscan and later also the Jesuit missionaries (Crespo & Penalva 2014, p. 82) - is even more evident, given the type of stem knot connecting the image. In fact, the master carver responsible for this ivory statuette chose to place the Virgin and her large crescent on a raised pedestal (turned and carved) in the shape of a lotus flower (padma), a symbol par excellence of spiritual purity not only in Buddhism, the most widespread religion in Ceylon, but also in Hinduism. This symbolic association, which we know from other Ceylonese carved images (Ferrão 1982, p. 10, fig. 8, p. 73, fig. 95; and Silva 2013, p. 129, fig. 7) is not surprising, given that the majority of the craftsmen working for the Ceylonese royal courts, such as carvers, or liyana vaduvÅ, were Tamil Hindus originating in Southern India, presentday Tamil Nadu.
When compared with similar statuettes produced in Ceylon, the present one stands out for its more simplified modelling, with rounded, softer traits and more fluid character, probably deriving in part from its unusual size. Such stylistic peculiarities can also be explained as stemming from the enforcement in Portuguese Asia of the decrees that resulted from the Council of Trent (1545-1563), in which the worship of images deserved some discussion which advocated for a greater simplicity in favour of a better spiritual appraisal of images and a deeper, unimpeded religiosity. If compared with Portuguese painting of this period, which was Mannerist in style, we find a similar sense of over simplification (despejo in Portuguese), in the smoothing of contrasts, volume and drapery, reduced to the essential (see Serrão 2012). Also one of the most surprising aspects of this rare sculpture may also be explained with a greater observance of decorum following the decrees emanating from Trent. I am referring to the depiction of the large mantle entirely covering the head of the Virgin and her hair except for her fringe, which would undoubtedly lend an erotic note to these female figures if unveiled. This eliminated the possibility of depicting the Virgin’s hair, a motif wisely employed by Ceylonese carvers to express their virtuosity, as may be observed in pieces carved from the second half of the 16th century onwards, where the windings of the hair are used as a pretext for the display of the master carver’s skill. In addition, the use of the large mantle, covering the women almost completely, occasionally leaving only one eye visible (the so-called tapadas), increases from the end of the 16th century to the early decades of the next, both in Portugal (Crespo 2012, pp. 135-136) and in Portuguese Asia, as can be seen from the depiction of the married women in one of the engravings on the people of Goa in Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s (1563-1611) Icones et Habitus Indorum (1604), also published in his Itinerario in 1596 (Boogaart 2003, pp. 76-77).
Stemming from an ivory carving tradition which was promptly exploited by the Portuguese, whether by missionaries keen on commissioning the images they so desperately required for the indoctrination of new converts, or even by courtly officials, the production of Catholic images in Ceylon achieved huge fame and prestige all over Asia, having been the starting point and dissemination centre for an industry that, from the island’s loss to the Dutch in 1658, probably moved to Goa (on the Ceylonese ivories, see Jordan Gschwend 2010; and Silva 2013). This important sculpture of Our Lady of the Conception - firmly holding the Infant Jesus, crowned over the mantle as the Queen of Heaven, and still retaining traces of its original polychromy - stands apart from the more common Ceylonese production, some earlier in date, both for the previously mentioned iconographic and stylistic aspects, and also for its unusual and extraordinary dimension, most likely being a specific commission for some religious institution in Ceylon, or for a wealthy courtly official resident in Portuguese India.
Ernst van den Boogaart, Civil and Corrupt Asia. Image and Text in the Itinerario and the Icones of Jan Huygen van Linschoten, Chicago - London, The University of Chicago Press, 2003; Bernardo Ferrão, Imaginária Luso-Oriental, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1982; Hugo Miguel Crespo, “Trajar as aparências, vestir para ser: o testemunho da Pragmática de 1609”, in Gonçalo de Vasconcelos e Sousa (ed.), O Luxo na Região do Porto ao Tempo de Filipe II de Portugal (1610), Porto, Universidade Católica Editora, 2012, pp. 93-148; Hugo Miguel Crespo, Luísa Penalva, “Jóias Goesas: A Construção de uma Identidade Indo-Portuguesa. Goan Jewels: The Construction of an Indo-Portuguese Identity”, in Luísa Penalva; Anísio Franco (eds.), Esplendores do Oriente. Joias de Ouro da Antiga Goa. Splendours of the Orient. Gold Jewels from Old Goa (cat.), Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga - Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 2014, pp. 57-90; Annemarie Jordan Gschwend; Johannes Beltz (eds.), Elfenbeine aus Ceylon. Luxusgüter für Katharina von Habsburg (1507-1578) (cat.), Zürich, Museum Rietberg, 2010, maxime cat. no. 12, 18-19, 21-23, 50-52; Vítor Serrão, “Impactos do Concílio de Trento na Arte Portuguesa entre o Maneirismo e o Barroco”, in José Pedro Paiva (ed.), O Concílio de Trento em Portugal e nas suas conquistas. Olhares novos, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2012, pp. 103-132; Nuno Vassallo e Silva, “«Engenho e Primor»: a Arte do Marfim no Ceilão. «Ingenuity and Excellence»: Ivory Art in Ceylon”, in Nuno Vassallo e Silva (ed.), Marfins no Império Português. Ivories in the Portuguese Empire, Lisboa, Scribe, 2013, pp. 87-141.
