Object Details
Maker
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
Unknown sculptor, kingdom of Benin [1]; left Kingdom of Benin under unknown circumstances. Acquired under unknown circumstances by David Lytton Cobbold, Second Baron Cobbold (1937-2022), Hertford, England, by 1974; sale, "African, Oceanic, Eskimo, Pacific North-West Coast, American Indian and Pre-Columbian Art," Sotheby's, London, July 8, 1974, no. 85, to William Fagg (1914-1992), London; sold to Paul (1900-196) and Ruth (Worms) Tishman (1905-1999), New York, by 1981; sold to Walt Disney World Co., Los Angeles, 1984; donated to the National Museum of African Art, 2005.
[1] present-day Benin City, Nigeria
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
Date
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)
Data Source
National Museum of African Art
Topic
Household
Status
foreigner
male
Trade
angel
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmafa_2005-6-36