Jesus the Good Shepherd Walnut 17th century

This is a walnut sconce depicting Jesus as the “Good Shepherd”. The image of the “Good Shepherd” comes from the Bible (Luke 15:3-7), specifically from the parable of the lost sheep. In this allegorical tale, the Lord brings the lost sheep back to the flock, which has been left alone.
Luke chapter 15, “If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the other ninety-nine in the wilderness to go and look for the lost one, until he finds it? When he has found her, he takes her on his shoulders, all joyful (...)”.
Jesus' face is handsome, his gaze benevolent, and he carries the lost sheep on his shoulders, characteristics typical of the “Good Shepherd”. Note the precise detail of the sheep's wool and the beautiful wave of Christ's hair. He holds the animal's legs in both hands. Cut to the knees, Jesus' garment is loose-fitting, with folds deeply carved into the wood to give it movement. This image illustrates one aspect of Jesus' mission: to gather and guide the lost. He shepherds his flock and brings back the lost sheep.
This iconography, widely used by Christian artists, stems from the tradition of the “criophore” shepherd, the “ram-bearer”, a figure commemorating the solemn sacrifice of a ram, and later became an epithet of Hermes: Hermes Kriophoros.
The figure of the shepherd passed into Roman religion and art, being associated with the god Mercury. From these various artistic representations and meanings, nascent Christian art drew inspiration, going so far as to make the kriophoros shepherd a representation of the “Good Shepherd”. The Good Shepherd motif became a recurrent motif in early Christian art from the 3rd century A.D. onwards, notably in the catacombs of Rome and in sarcophagus reliefs, where pagan and Christian symbols mingle.