FOUR BETHLEHEM CARVED MOTHER-OF-PEARL CHRISTIAN FIGURES Bethlehem, Palestine, 18th century

FOUR BETHLEHEM CARVED MOTHER-OF-PEARL CHRISTIAN FIGURES
Bethlehem, Palestine, 18th century

Mother-of-pearl, carved and engraved, with ink highlights, two figures are depicted within elaborate aediculae surmounted by cusped domes and flanked by eagles, identifiable as the Virgin Mary and Christ by the Greek abbreviations inscribed in the canopies, the other two figures depict standing, haloed, bearded male saints, shown frontally in richly ornamented garments with jewelled borders; one has both hands crossed over the chest in a devotional gesture, while the other raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing; the four figures would have originally been part of a wider crucifixion scene; unfortunately, the absence of identifying attributes prevents a more precise identification; set within a red silk fabric and frame.

Largest figure 14.7cm high, 34.5cm x 24.1 total including frame

Such carvings would have been produced as souvenir objects for Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, the tradition of shell carving was introduced to Bethlehem by the Franciscans in the 16th century, as evidenced by the models of Holy Land shrines in Palestine that they commissioned from local artisans and exported to Catholic Europe—particularly Venice—via Acre by the mid-seventeenth century (Norris, J., Exporting the Holy Land: Artisans and Merchant Migrants in Ottoman-Era Bethlehem, in Mashriq & Mahjar 1, no. 2, 2013, p. 23). Bethlehem subsequently became the manufacturing center of a global industry in religious souvenirs, extensively traded by Bethlehem merchants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.