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Sapi-Portuguese Ivory Spoon
The Sapi-Portuguese Ivory Spoon was created by an unknown Sapi artist in the 16th century. The carving that makes up part of the handle of the spoon was based on European iconography but the design reflects the stylistic traditions of the Sapi people of West Africa. Background This ivory spoon carving is believed to have been created by a Sapi artist. Sapi was a name used by Portuguese traders to describe the people that lived along the coast of Sierra Leone, a country on the southwestern coast of Africa bordered by Guinea and Liberia. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the time frame in which this piece was created, the Portuguese dominated global trade, with ports all over the world, including India, Brazil, and Sierra Leone. Throughout their colonial reign, Portuguese colonizers enslaved 175,000 African people and sent them to Europe and the Americas. The Portuguese sought out gold, ivory, and pepper from Africa as those were their main exports. Ivory was a particular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoon MET DT277723
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for transferring food to the mouth. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients and for serving food. Present day spoons are made from metal (notably flat silver or silverware, plated or solid), wood, porcelain or plastic. There are a wide variety of spoons that are made of a variety of materials and by different cultures for many different uses and foods. Terminology The spoon consists of a ''bowl'' and a handle. A handle in a shape of a slender stick is frequently called a ''stem''. The stem can end in a sharp point or be crowned with a ''knop'', a decorative knob. The ''knop-top'' spoons with a variety of knop shapes described by colorful terms like "acorn", "writhen-end" (spiral ornament on a ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same, regardless of the species of origin, but ivory contains structures of mineralised collagen. The trade in certain teeth and tusks other than elephant is well established and widespread; therefore, "ivory" can correctly be used to describe any mammalian teeth or tusks of commercial interest which are large enough to be carved or scrimshawed. Besides natural ivory, ivory can also be produced synthetically, hence (unlike natural ivory) not requiring the retrieval of the material from animals. Tagua nuts can also be carved like ivory. The trade of finished goods of ivory products has its origins in the Indus Valley. Ivory is a main product that is seen in abundance and was used for trading in Harappan civilization. Finished ivory pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are subdivided into Districts of Sierra Leone, 16 districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected executive president, president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a Secular state, secular nation with Constitution of Sierra Leone, the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapi Saltceller
The collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art contains a lidded saltceller. Crafted in either 15th or 16th century Sierra Lione, the item is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 352. Background Ivory carving was a traditional part of West African art. In what is now Sierra Leone, the Sapi people were noted for producing ivory pieces for export. When Portuguese traders began to establish themselves in enclaves on the ivory and grain coasts in the late 15th century, they began to commission local artisans to produce intricately-designed ivory vessels, receptacles, and boxes for export to Europe. Given the valuable nature of ivory, these containers were typically only used to hold valuable goods, such as salt, pepper, and other spices, all of which the nascent Portuguese Empire was quickly gaining access to through its widening trade network. The result of these trade relations was a mixing of Portuguese and Sapi artistic tradition, creating an Afro-Portuguese Afro- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltcellar With Portuguese Figures
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 like this, specifically 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. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
16th Century In The Arts
16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, the numbers 16 and 60 are sometimes confused, as they sound very similar. Sixteen is the fourth power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British have 16 ounces in one pound; the Chinese used to have 16 ''liangs'' in one ''jin''. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5s and 5 low ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portuguese Art
Portuguese art includes many different styles from many different eras. Sculptures Portuguese sculptures can be best analysed by studying the many tombs of the 12th and 13th Centuries that are found throughout Portugal. In the late 1700s, the colony of Brazil was the main influence in Portuguese sculpture. This can be seen by the increase in Baroque wooden sculpture during this time. Joaquim Machado de Castro, a famous Portuguese artist who lived around thjais responsible for a lot of these works. Painting The Classical and Romantic styles of painting, brought to Portugal from Italy and France, had an influence on Portuguese artist Machado de Castro in the late 18th century and António Soares dos Reis in the 19th century. A school for amateur painters, led by Nuno Gonçalves, was popular in the 15th century. As a result, Flemish artists added to the native style by decorating palaces and convents using their own techniques. The result gave Portugal a rich heritage of religious ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Art
African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as: African American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa. Pottery, metalwork, sculpture, architecture, textile art and fibre art are important visual art forms across Africa and may be included in the study of African art. The term "African art" does not usually include the art of the North African areas along the Mediterranean coast, as such areas had long been part of different traditions. For more than a millennium, the art of such areas had formed part of Berber or Islamic art, although with many particular local characteristics. The Art of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivory Works Of Art
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same, regardless of the species of origin, but ivory contains structures of mineralised collagen. The trade in certain teeth and tusks other than elephant is well established and widespread; therefore, "ivory" can correctly be used to describe any mammalian teeth or tusks of commercial interest which are large enough to be carved or scrimshawed. Besides natural ivory, ivory can also be produced synthetically, hence (unlike natural ivory) not requiring the retrieval of the material from animals. Tagua nuts can also be carved like ivory. The trade of finished goods of ivory products has its origins in the Indus Valley. Ivory is a main product that is seen in abundance and was used for trading in Harappan civilization. Finished ivory pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
