This polychrome wood sculpture depicts the Pietà, an important Catholic iconography developed in northern Europe around the 14th century which became popular in Italy during the Renaissance period. It shows the body of Christ lying on the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary. This sculpture is probably made in Goa in the early 17th century, when the city was under Portuguese rule. In the 16th and 17th centuries, churches were built which led to the creation of religious art to adorn them. Goan craftsmen were known to produce painted and gilded carved wooden devotional images. An inscription in Syriac at the base indicates that the work was owned by a St. Thomas Christian.
