Page 192 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

In these seven examples the mouthpiece is The rings could have been added by the maker 1491 of the Portuguese delegation, led by Ruy de
pierced into the concave side of the tusk following in anticipation of the instruments' eventual own- Sousa, in the capital of the Kongo notes that the
African usage, but, at the same time, one or two ership by some European prince or the pope. It is king sent to meet them a group of nobles "with
rings for attaching a cord have been carved (Bas- possible that the two Florentine ivories were sent many ivory horns and drums, and many other
sani and Fagg 1988, nos. 181-187). As noted ear- by the king of the Kongo to one of the two Medici instruments" (Brasio 1952, i, 113).
lier, typical African horns have no rings, and the pontiffs (Leo x, who was pope from 1515 to 1521 The decorative motifs on the horns belong to
cord, when it exists, is wound around the instru- or Clement vn from 1523 to 1534). Henrique, son the traditional figurative vocabulary of the Kongo,
ment. We must therefore conclude that the artist of King Afonso i of the Kongo, a convert to Chris- elaborated before the arrival of the Europeans, and
who created these oliphants had seen a European tianity, was appointed bishop by Leo x. are seen not only in ivories but also in cloth made
horn. In that case they must have been carved It is equally possible that all seven oliphants of palm fiber, headdresses, and woven baskets.
between 1482, the year that Diogo Cao's ships were carved for the king or another important They reveal a highly cultivated taste, a sense of
entered the mouth of the Kongo River, and 1553, leader of the Kongo people and that the rings were rhythm and composition, and also a complete
when they were registered in the inventories of incorporated simply to imitate European models. mastery of geometry. The design on the Kongo
the grand duke in Florence. The tradition that one Ivory horns, called mpungi in the Kikongo lan- ivories is consistently regular and controlled.
of the seven oliphants belonged to the collection guage, were part of the hereditary regalia of the Note, for instance, the carver's skill in adapting
of the famous Spanish writer of Peruvian origins, appointed leaders, beginning with the king, and the Greek fret motif to the narrowing spiral bands
Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), is consistent played an important role in court ceremonies. The as the conical tusk becomes smaller. E.B.
with this hypothesis. earliest reports describing the arrival in April

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 191