Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Christ Child
(India, Nepal, and Tibet)
Rock crystal figures of the Christ Child are among the rarest of luxury items to have been made for the Portuguese in India and Sri Lanka. This sculpture was likely once adorned with a golden crown inlaid with jewels and would have been elevated on an equally elaborate pedestal. Though the subject was introduced by Christian missionaries, the figures were sculpted by local artists. The large eyes, frontal posture, and soft, fleshy limbs resemble features seen in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain devotional images. This devotional image was produced in the Portuguese colony of Goa, a Jesuit training center for missionaries on India’s western coast.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Dikran Kelekian, Paris and New York; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1926; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Exhibitions
| 2015-2016 | Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. |
| 1980 | Undercover Stories in Art. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 9/21/1976 | Examination | other |
| 3/20/1978 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 5/24/2013 | Examination | Examined |
Geographies
Sri Lanka
(Place of Origin)
India, Goa (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 2 11/16 × W: 1 1/16 × D: 3/4 in. (6.9 × 2.7 × 1.9 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1926
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
42.360