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Crossing Cultures: Afro-Portuguese Ivories of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Sierra Leone

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Crossing Cultures: Afro-Portuguese Ivories of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Sierra Leone CROSSING CULTURES: AFRO-PORTUGUESE IVORIES OF FIFTEENTH- AND SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SIERRA LEONE By EUGENIA SOLEDAD MARTINEZ A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 Eugenia Soledad Martinez 2 To the makers of the ivory sculptures of Sierra Leone: a memento mori for you. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have written this without the steadfast mentorship of Dr. Victoria Rovine, my supervisory committee chair, who has supported my scholarship since my arrival at the University of Florida. The insights of Drs. Robin Poynor and Elizabeth Ross have been invaluable. Without my friends’ proofreading and listening, maintaining momentum would not have been possible (thanks to KH, BJ, AS, KO, MM, CM, AKF and everyone else in FAC 114). Finally, it goes without saying that the support and encouragement of my parents, Karen Lee and Bill Hawfield and Danielle and Manny Martinez have been essential to the completion of my Master’s degree. As KH often says in situations such as this, “It’s fine.” 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................6 ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................11 2 HISTORY OF THE SIERRA LEONE-PORTUGUESE IVORIES.......................................21 Historical Circumstances of the Ivories’ Creation..................................................................21 Why the Sierra Leone-Portuguese Ivories Are Not “Tourist Art” ..................................24 Collecting in Early Modern Europe ................................................................................25 The Salt Cellar as a Signifier of High Social Status in European Culture ......................26 Lançados: Those Who “Threw Themselves” Among Africans .............................................28 The History of Ivory as a Prestige Material: Africa and Europe............................................31 Sculptural Production in Sierra Leone for Local Markets: Soapstone, Wood, and Clay .......33 Cross-Continental Aesthetic Migrations: Collaborative Efforts.............................................36 3 BIOGRAPHY OF THE IVORIES THROUGH LITERARY SOURCES AND MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS ....................................................................................................43 Early Sources on the Afro-Portuguese Ivories .......................................................................44 Colonial Era Discourse on Afro-Portuguese Ivories ..............................................................45 The Post-Colonial Era: New Tactics of Systemization ..........................................................47 The Bassani/Fagg-Curnow Episode and the New Era of Discourse on Afro-Portuguese Ivories..................................................................................................................................51 4 TWO SIERRA LEONE-PORTUGUESE SALT CELLARS: EMBODIMENTS OF A TRANSCULTURAL CONCEPTION AND LIFE CYCLE ..................................................59 The Rome “Executioner” Salt Cellar......................................................................................60 Perception of the Self as the Other Made Visual ............................................................65 The New York Salt Cellar ......................................................................................................66 Life and Death Envisioned in the Janus Head.................................................................68 5 CONCLUSION: DIASPORA OF OBJECTS: TRANSCULTURAL MEMORY AND MOTION ................................................................................................................................73 LIST OF REFERENCES...............................................................................................................77 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................85 5 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Rome “executioner” salt cellar. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Museo Nazionale Preistorico e Etnografico, Rome. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 135) 2. Pyx. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Private collection. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-13) 3. Spoon. Sierra Leone. ca. 1490-1550, ivory, 24 cm. The British Museum. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-10) 4. Fork. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory, 24.3 cm. The British Museum (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-11) 5. Oliphant. Sierra Leone, late 15th century, ivory, metal, 64.2 cm. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Walt Disney World Co. Accessed Oct. 7, 2007 <http://newsdesk.si.edu/images_full/images/museums/nmafa/disney_tishman_may/disney_tishman_23.jpg> 6. Salt cellar with boat. Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria), 16th century, ivory, 30 cm. The British Museum. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-20) 7. Knife case. Kingdom of Kongo (Democratic Republic of Congo/Angola), ivory, 25.4 cm. Detroit Institute of Arts. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-32) 8. Cantino Planisphere, detail. Portugal, ca. 1502, illuminated manuscript on three vellum leaves, 105 x 220 cm. Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Modena. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure P-4) 9. Map of western Africa showing three centers of Afro-Portuguese ivory carving in the sixteenth century. (Modified from Blier, “Imaging Otherness in Ivory,” figure 3) 10. Map of ethnolinguistic areas in Sierra Leone in the fifteenth century. (Modified from Lamp, “House of Stones,” figure 31) 11. Male figure seated on an elephant, Sierra Leone, 15th-17th century, steatite, 19 cm. National Museum of African Art (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-4) 12. Male figure, Sierra Leone, wood, 19.4 cm. Promised gift to the Baltimore Museum of Art, collection of Elliott and Marcia Harris. (in Lamp, “Ancient Wood Figures,” figure 1) 13. Head, Sierra Leone, clay, 15.4 cm. Private collection. (in Lamp, “Ancient Wood Sculptures,” figure 8) 14. New York salt cellar, Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Private collection. 6 15. Benvenuto Cellini, Salt cellar, called the Saliera. 1540-43. Gold and enamel, 26.7 x 33.3 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Accessed Oct. 7, 2007 <http://www.khm.at/data/page842/page842/saliera600.jpg>. 16. Albrecht Altdorfer. Six covered cups. ca. 1530, engraving. (in Vogel in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure II) 17. Salt cellar. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory, 24 cm, Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 43) 18. Transport of the killed stag. Detail from a page of the Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis, French, by Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, Paris, 1498. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 118) 19. Transport of the killed stag. Detail from a Sapi-Portuguese oliphant (Figure 5). Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory, Australian National Museum, Canberra (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 119) 20. Arms of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile and Aragon. Spain, 1498, woodcut. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 130) 21. Arms of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile and Aragon. Detail from a Sapi-Portuguese oliphant. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory, Australian National Museum, Canberra. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 177) 22. Pyx, detail of Figure 2. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Private collection. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 141) 23. Illustration of the Tree of Jesse. Paris, France, 1498, print from the Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis by Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 142) 24. Salt cellar, detail of Figure 17. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 156) 25. Salt cellar, detail of Figure 1 depicting seated figures on base. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Museo Nazionale Preistorico e Etnografico, Rome. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 169) 26. Salt cellar, detail of Figure 1 depicting finial group on lid. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory. Museo Nazionale Preistorico e Etnografico, Rome. (in Bassani and Fagg, Africa and the Renaissance, figure 73) 27. Male figure surrounded by decapitated heads (nomoli). Sierra Leone, ca. 15th-16th century, steatite, 19cm. Collection Franco Monti, Milan. (in Lamp, “House of Stones,” figure 27) 28. Male figure with three smaller figures. Sierra Leone, ca. 15th-16th century, steatite, 32 cm. Oxford, Pitt Rivers Museum. (in Lamp, “Ancient Stone Sculptures,” figure 14) 7 29. Plaque. Edo peoples, Benin Kingdom, mid 16th-17th century, copper alloy. National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC. (in Levenson, Encompassing the Globe, figure A-16) 30. Salt cellar. Sierra Leone, ca. 1490-1550, ivory, 24.5 cm. Museo Nazionale Peristorico e Etnografico, Rome (in Bassani and Fagg, African
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