Global InformationSaltcellar with Portuguese Figures information
| Bini-Portuguese Ivory Salt Cellar | |
|---|---|
 Front angle of salt cellar. | |
| Artist | Unknown |
| Year | ca. 1525-1600 |
| Medium | Ivory |
| Subject | Portuguese explorers |
| Dimensions | 19.1 cm × 7.6 cm × 8.3 cm (7 1/2 in × 0.3 in × 3 1/4 in) |
| Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
| Accession | 1972.63a, b |
| Website | Museum page |
The Saltcellar with Portuguese Figures is a salt cellar in carved ivory, made in the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa in the 16th century, for the European market. It is attributed to an unknown master or workshop who has been given the name Master of the Heraldic Ship by art historians. It depicts four Portuguese figures, two of higher class and the other two are possibly guards protecting them. In the 16th century, Portuguese visitors ordered ivory salt cellars and ivory spoons similar to this object. This Afro-Portuguese ivory salt cellar was carved in the style of a Benin court ivory, comparable to the famous Benin bronzes and Benin ivory masks.[1]
These kinds of ivory arts were commissioned and exported initially from Sierra Leone and later Benin City, Nigeria. During the age of exploration European powers expanded their trade and efforts towards establishing trade posts in the New World, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Portuguese sailors disembarked from their caravels to buy goods for trading like ivory, gold, and others. These goods were taken from markets to colonial outposts to Portugal and then traded within European markets. During the 16th and 17th century countries that participated in colonialism reaped the economical benefits from its international trade.
The salt cellar was probably carved for a Portuguese nobleman to put it on his dining table. It is one of four almost identical pieces, probably made as a set. The other three are now in European museums.[2] Ivory salt cellars and ivory spoons like the Sapi-Portuguese Ivory Spoon, also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were common pieces of art that Portuguese sailors brought back from West African countries.[3] There are no records of the order for this commission but it is believed that a Benin Ivory carver produced this in the Benin Kingdom, in modern day Nigeria.
- ^ [1]; Museum page
- ^ Museum page
- ^ Ryder, A. F. C. (1964). "A Note on the Afro-Portuguese Ivories". The Journal of African History. 5 (3): 363–365. doi:10.1017/S0021853700005065. ISSN 0021-8537. JSTOR 179972. S2CID 162610187.