Museum of Christian Art makes mark on global shores

OLD GOA: The Museum of Christian Art at Old Goa may be the smallest of its kind in the smallest state in the country, but it is definitely punching above its weight. With five of its precious exhibits awing visitors at the Art Gallery of South Australia and then the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the museum is making quite a mark for itself and the state on foreign shores.
“This is a big deal for the Museum of Christian Art and Goa as well. Only two museums were shortlisted from India to be part of these international exhibitions. The other being Bombay Archdiocesan Heritage Museum,” says Natasha Fernandes, curator of the museum, adding that the National Museum of India facilitated the loan.
The exhibition, titled ‘Treasure ships: Art in the age of spices’ will have 300 artefacts on display that were produced in the age of spices dating from the 15th to the early 19th centuries. It will be the first exhibition of its kind to be presented in Australia which will showcase the complex artistic and cultural interactions between Europe and Asia. The five geographical nodes that form the exhibition are Goa, Batavia in Indonesia, Amsterdam in The Netherlands, London in Great Britain and Sydney, Australia.
“We requested the loans from the Museum of Christian Art because, being the most important museum of Christian Art in India, the quality of its collection is of a major international significance. The works we borrowed are definitive examples of Indian Christian art from the Portuguese era,” James Benett, the exhibition’s coordinating curator at the Art Gallery of South Australia, told TOI via email.
The select five exhibits include an ivory statue of Infant Jesus (saviour of the world), a gilt silver reliquary monstrance believed to hold a thorn from Jesus Christ’s cross, a silver and wood reliquary chest that once held a surplice worn by St Francis Xavier, an incense holder in the shape of a boat and a painting of a monstrance that dates back to the 17th century.
The exhibits, like most of those on display at the Museum of Christian Art, showcase the influence of local Mughal and Hindu artisans on Christian art during the Portuguese era. The monstrance, for instance, is decorated with Indian features, while the statue of infant Jesus is distinct with Indian characteristics.
Museum of Christian Art has also been part of a series of exhibitions called ‘St Francis Xavier-his life and times’ held across Japan in 1999 and an exhibition titled ‘Passage to Asia-25 centuries of cultural exchange between Asia and Europe’ held in Brussels in 2010.