Salt cellar

Object Details

Benin kingdom, Bini-Portuguese style

Edo artist

Label Text

Carved for export to Europe, salt cellars originally consisted of two vertically linked spherical containers and served more as an indicator of status than a functional container. This piece is missing its lid and lower section.

The figures on the bowl depict Portuguese men, identifiable by their costumes, beaklike noses and straight hair. The most unusual features--two nude, adult male winged figures--are not typical of European angels or of any African figure, suggesting that the European model was not completely assimilated. The use of surface ornament and size to indicate relative importance are in keeping with Benin court art tradition, although the result here is notably different in style from traditional Benin figures.

Description

Ivory, circular salt cellar without a lid. The carved surface depicts human-like male figures in European dress with wings riding backwards on horses. The nude figure has a crest style hairdo and holds a rope and a branch.

Provenance

David Litton Cobbold, England, -- to 1974

Paul and Ruth Tishman, New York, 1974 to --

Walt Disney World co.

Exhibition History

Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing

African Art and The Shape of Time, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, August 18, 2012-February 3, 2013

African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2007-March 31, 2009

African Gallery, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, September 19, 2005-October 3, 2006

For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981

Published References

Hornbeck, Stephanie. 2016. "Ivory: I dentification and Regulation of a Precious Material." National Museum of African Art Conservation Lab publication. p.1.

Bassani, Ezio and William Fagg. 1989. Africa and the Renaissance: Art in Ivory. Munich: Prestel.

Curnow, Kathy. 1983. "The Afro-Portuguese Ivories: Classification and Stylistic Analysis of a Hybrid Art Form." PhD dissertation, Indiana University, no. 78.

Kreamer, Christine Mullen, Bryna Freyer and Andrea Nicolls. 2007. African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 55, 74-75, fig. 14, no. 18.

Meier, Prita and Raymond Silverman. 2012. African Art and the Shape of Time. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art Books, pp. 54-55, no. 13.

Patton, Sharon F. and Bryna Freyer. 2008. Treasures 2008. Washington D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 12-13.

Ross, Doran (ed). 1992. Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, p. 166, no. 8-4A, B.

Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 132-133, no. 75.

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Credit Line

Gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company

16th century

Object number

2005-6-36

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Ivory, pigment

Dimensions

H x W x D: 10.2 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm (4 x 3 x 3 in.)

Geography

Nigeria

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

Exhibition

Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts

On View

NMAfA, Second Level Gallery (2193)

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Household

Status

foreigner

male

Trade

angel

Record ID

nmafa_2005-6-36

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys700268e13-cbc7-4353-9c29-d5bad837b171