Ivory salt cellar
From Benin, Nigeria, probably 16th century
AD
'Afro-Portuguese'
Portuguese traders arrived on the west coast of
Africa during the late fifteenth century in search of trade,
treasure and political influence. By the sixteenth century the city
of Benin in modern Nigeria was trading pepper, cloth, ivory and
slaves with the Portuguese in exchange for luxury goods. The
Portuguese also commissioned Sapi artists along the coast of
western Africa in present-day Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, and
Yoruba or Edo artists of Benin to produce decorative spoons, more
elaborate salt cellars and hunting horns for sale to
sailors.
The ivory salt
cellars combine images of status from two cultures: the Portuguese
Christian religious imagery, coats of arms, and scenes of the
nobility hunting; and Benin motifs of royalty and men of high rank
with swords and elaborate
costumes.
The Virgin and
Child surmount the lid of this salt cellar, symbolically triumphant
over a series of snakes which embellish the lower part of the
vessel.
Frequently referred
to as 'Afro-Portuguese ivories', these objects are
now seen as perhaps the first examples of 'tourist
art' from Africa.
P. Girshick Ben-Amos, The art of Benin (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)