Indian - The Christ Child as Good Shepherd - Walters 71324

This popular compositional type of carved ivory statuette depicting the Good Shepherd was apparently invented in Goa (west coast of India), a Jesuit training center for missionaries. At the bottom, Christ's follower Mary Magdalene reads scriptures in a mountain cave, where, according to legend, she retired in later life. Above is a fountain of life (suggestive of baptism) with doves and lambs, and at the top is the meditative figure of the Christ Child sitting with a lamb.