Page 185 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

sculptural tradition in Sierra Leone, or, as was in bas-relief, which modulate the rhythm of the according to the restorer's imagination — do not
recently proposed by Ezio Bassani and William carving on the basis of rectangular registers. The detract from the exceptional aesthetic quality of
Fagg, to the Sapi (Crapes, Sapes). This collective architectural structure is thus lightened by the the object. The sophisticated structure and the
term was adopted by the Portuguese during the skillful alternation of filled and empty spaces, clever formal devices — note the elegant alterna-
Renaissance to indicate a group of populations which produces an openwork effect. The base sup- tion between carved masses with smooth surfaces,
including the Bulom, the Temne, and other ports a hemispherical cup whose lid is decorated and areas decorated with simple incised geometric
bordering nations. with an execution scene carved in the round. The designs — show this to be the work of a great
The cup illustrated here has a hollowed-out complex formal structure and the originality of master. With the rhythmical modulation of vol-
cylindrical base with figurative elements carved in the iconography combine to make this cup unique umes, the tension of line, and the sculptural
the round inserted into an architectonic structure. among works of its type. precision of the surprising effects of balance, he
Four human figures, male alternating with female, The imperfect attempts at restoration —the shows that he is able to combine dynamism and a
seated on the rim of the base, are separated by head of the victim about to be sacrificed, the hand feeling for the essential with the most significant
vertical elements, some decorated with crocodiles and ax of the executioner, the latter completed morphological elements of the great African
sculptural tradition. E.G.

The Sapi saltcellars are mentioned in some
of the earliest Portuguese accounts of ivories
imported from Africa. The 1504-1505 account
book of the Casa de Guine refers to saleyros (salt-
cellars). Valentim Fernandes, in his report of
1506-1510, describes the Sapi as "very skillful in
manual arts, that is [they create] ivory saltcellars
and spoons and thus whatever work you draw for
them they carve out in ivory/' E.B.

68-69
SPOON AND FORK

late i$th- early i6th century
Sapi-Portuguese style, Sierra Leone
ivory
5
2
spoon length 24 (9 /2J; fork length 24.5 (9 /s)
references: Pacheco Pereira 1905, 134; Fernandes
1951; Ryder 1964; Teixeira da Mota 1975;
Dam-Mikkelsen and Lundbaek 1980, 47, 48;
Bassani and Fagg 1988
The Trustees of the British Museum

The virtuosity and exquisite taste of the carvers of
ivory in what is today Sierra Leone attain their
finest expression in these small masterpieces, the
Sapi-Portuguese spoons and forks. Although the
models are European — as is easily confirmed by a
quick comparison with Portuguese examples in
metal from the end of the fifteenth century —the
choice of decorative motifs and their perfect inte-
gration into the finished works must be attributed
entirely to the inventiveness and skill of the Afri-
can artists.
Open and closed spaces are skillfully articulated
throughout. Snakes and crocodiles, whose scales
are rendered by means of cross-hatched incisions,
slither along the slender handles, forming elegant
loops, or confront small four-legged animals.
Typical motifs of Portuguese Manueline decora-
tion (rows of beads and zigzag transverse bands,
which also appear on saltcellars and oliphants) are
harmoniously integrated with the images of ani-

184 CIRCA 1492