ART OF THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE FROM EUROPE, AFRICA AND ASIA
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Carved ivory
Kingdom of Benin (present-day Southern Nigeria), th century Length: . cm Provenance: S.P., Oporto and Private Collection, Lisbon Published: Bassani, E., ‘African Art and Artefacts in European Collections, – London, British Museum Press, , n.º ; Trnek, E., Silva, N.V., ‘Exotica. e Portuguese Discoveries and the renaissance Kunstkammer’ (cat.), Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, , p. , n.º ; Dias, P., ‘A Arte do Mar m — O Mundo onde os Portugueses Chegaram’, Oporto, V.O.C. Antiguidades Lda, , p. , n.º ; Bassani & Fagg, ‘Africa and the Renaissance: Art in Ivory’, New York; Munich: e Centre for African Art; Prestel-Verlag, , n.º
Superb spoon featuring a simple rod-like stem of fish-shaped finial. e thread-like nature of its slender stem or handle, contrasts with the curved upper section of the paper-thin ridged bowl.
Not unlike other artworks made by the Yorùbá and Edó peoples, and besides being based on a series of visual and conceptual puns, the iconography of these spoons may convey some ancient stories, myths and oral lore passed down through the generations, probably as traditional proverbs.
is type of object may be among some of the earliest objects produced in Western Africa for the European market.
GUZARATI CASKET DISPLAYING A PORTUGUESE COUPLE
Teak and mother-of-pearl, silver mounts India, Gujarat, 2nd-half of the 16th century Dim.: 15.6 × 25.8 × 14.0 cm An important Gujarati casket coated in mother-of-pearl mosaics and mounted with sumptuous silver elements, possibly added in Goa, or given their erudite decoration, in Lisbon.
In the casket’s interior a depiction of a Portuguese couple attired in Portuguese India costume, evidently adapted to the local climate. is very rare imagery, which alludes to the marriage character of many of these Gujarati objects produced for the Portuguese market, belongs to a rare group defined by this type of figurative decoration in coloured shellac.