Page 152 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

gold from the Sudan. Copper from the Maghreb
brought high prices in Lisbon (in 1436 one hun-
dred kilograms sold for 1,410 reals, and in 1506, in
the reign of Dom Manuel i, for 6,240 reals). Afri-
can copper arrived in Lisbon from northern
Europe through Flanders. Copper also was
exported through Cairo to India, where it was
highly sought after, especially by the Casa da
Moeda, or mint, at Goa. Copper was also used for
liturgical ornaments, jewelry, and arms and armor,
as well as for a great many works of religious art.
The gilt and enamel decoration is typical of this
period. Objects in copper, enamel, and gold figure
prominently in an inventory of armor and tapes-
tries in the royal collections, dated 1505. The
entries include "a sword one-third gold-plated,
the handle and mace of gold-plated copper; two
swords one-third gold-plated with the edges and
sphere all gold-plated... and on the mace the
edges and sphere are enameled; there is one gold-
plated and enameled dagger." Prince Henry don-
ated "two silver ampullas with enamels in his
colors, that is, blue, white, and black" to the
church of the Convent of the Order of Christ in
Tomar. Salvers said to be Manueline often have
enameled medallions, and such royal works as the
Belem Monstrance and the Reliquary of Dom
Leonor (both Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga,
Lisbon) attest to the importance of enamels in
3OB Portuguese goldsmiths' work. J.T.
Henry the Navigator himself "much desired to
SALVER WITH AFRICAN MOTIFS have these strange things that came to him from
different parts and countries discovered through
late i$th-early i6th century his diligence" (Cadamosto e Sintra 1988, 168)
Lisbon In Hans Burgkmair's woodcut The Kings of
diameter 25.8 Cochin, published in Augsburg in 1509, the fig- 31
copper-gilt and enamel, engraved and repousse
references: Marques 1940; Blake 1940; Vasconcelos ures said to be from Guinea resemble those on the FESTIVE PROCESSION WITH GIRAFFES
1882; Campbell 1983; Godinho 1984; Bassani and salver; one man holds a lance similar to those
Fagg 1988; Peres 1988 depicted in the salver. The famous engraving of early i6th century
the city of Benin included in Olfert Dapper's Flemish, probably Tournai
private collection Description de I'Afrique (1687) shows the cortege tapestry, warp: wool; weft: wool and silk
of the oba or king, which includes leopard- references: Barreto 1800; Vasconcelos 1896; Keil
Castanheda
Viterbo
1920;
Bottiger
1924;
The program for the tapestries commissioned in trainers, recalling the leopard portrayed on the 1919; Chumovsky 1960; Asselberghs 1968, 13, 15;
1947;
Flanders by Dom Manuel i to celebrate the key salver. The motifs on the salver also recall those Digby 1980, 31; Aguas 1987
events in the opening of the sea route to India depicted in the Miller Atlas of 1519 by Lopo
includes a view of the Cape of Good Hope, which Homem-Reineis (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris), Mr. Roger Brunei
Vasco da Gama's fleet rounded on 22 November especially the palm trees, elephants, huts, and fig-
1497. It called for an African scene with natives ures of natives (although there they are meant to This tapestry is part of a cycle of works commis-
and local flora and fauna, including elephants and represent India). Similar palm trees and elephants sioned to commemorate the establishment of the
shepherds with their cattle emerging from their appear in the scene of the Flight to Egypt in the Portuguese presence in India, the crowning
huts "in the style of that place" (Barreto 1880). Book of Hours of Dom Manuel i of 1517-1538 achievement of Portugal's Age of Discoveries. The
This description is close to that of the African (Museo Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon). Despite momentousness of the event was recognized even
scenes reproduced on this salver, which reflects an the thematic similarities, however, the scheme of at the time. When on 20 May 1498 Vasco da
effort to set a standard in this form of expression. representation used in the salver is fundamentally Gama arrived at the port of Calicut in India, he
The first Portuguese accounts of Guinea and different from that employed in these works; it had learned through the contacts he had made
Sierra Leone indicate that most of the natives in shows affinities with the Afro-Portuguese ivories. during his voyage that he would have to respect
fact went about without clothing; only a few wore The materials used in the salver remind us of cultural differences in India and give a clear expla-
cotton garments, which are portrayed on this Portugal's foreign trade during this period. From nation of the reason for his voyage so as to facili-
salver, perhaps out of modesty or because the the reign of Dom Joao i until the mid-sixteenth tate the exchange of goods. It was important to
piece was likely to be presented to the king or to a century, Portugal controlled several cities in reinforce the image of the power of the Portu-
member of his court. There was a great interest in Morocco, from which it obtained gold, copper, and guese kingdom and yet also to indicate that the
fifteenth-century Portugal for genuine objects cotton cloth (V. M. Godinho). The entrepot at goals of his voyage were not pillage, looting, and
from the newly found lands. We know that Prince Arguim served as an advance post for obtaining oppression. According to the narrative of the

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 151