Crucified Christ (detail)
PLACE/DATE
Sri Lanka, 16th century
MATERIALS
Ivory with traces of polychromy
DIMENSIONS
45 x 45 x 9 cm
INV
ESC.141
Images of this type, characterised by a narrow and longilinear anatomical configuration, with tight muscles and protruding bones, have been classified as Sinhalese-Portuguese.
They generally present a slender and stylised figure, with tapered faces, closed eyes and protruding eyelids. The figure is treated with greater naturalism from the waist up, a characteristic which is generally found in all the Christs lying dormant, thus classified and included in this evolutionary line.
The present figure of the dead Christ belongs to the group of the oldest works produced in ancient Ceylon for the European market, having followed the model of the first sculptures that were in the Portuguese armadas to Asia, most probably still late-Gothic.