A carved ivory standing figure with parakeet and cup-bearer, probably Goa, 17th century

male figure carved in the round, shown in European dress with pleated skirt gathered at the waist and ruffle cuffs, hair tied back and plaited behind, carrying a parrot nestled under one arm and holding a cup in one hand and a flask in the other, a diminutive figure at the front, similarly dressed and supported on a foliate scroll, reaches up to the cup

David Salmon, London (David Tremayne Ltd.)
Acquired in 1969

The physiognomy and type of dress, particularly the high foreheads and the pleated skirts, relates to Goanese ivory figures of Jesus as "The Good Shepherd" produced for the Portuguese community in India in the seventeenth century; see, for example, a figure of "The Good Shepherd" in Museu Quinta das Cruzes, Madeira (inv. no.MQC 137), and another in the V&A (inv. no.A.38-1921). The inclusion of the bird in the present example points to a possible identification of the figure as Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order. It was Franciscan friars who first brought Latin Christianity to Goa in 1517.