The Good Shepherd Rockery from Portuguese India, 1570s to 1650s: Emulation and Dissimulation in a Case of Missionary Art

The composite ivory carvings of the Good Shepherd Rockery visually capture the intricate network of connected histories from the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean. The sophisticated interplay between missionary patrons and local agents resulted in the creation of these unique works, which are without precursors or replicas in the artistic culture of the early modern period. Based on a transdisciplinary approach to material and documentary sources, this book explores the genesis of this original iconography with a focus on the practices of emulation and dissimulation performed by patrons, artists, and local agents – an equivocal game of mirrors that ultimately charged the artworks with multiple interpretive layers and allusive meanings.