Saltcellar with European and African Figures (late 16th century) — Chatsworth House
Carved ivory saltcellar with European and African figure groups from the Kingdom of Benin region or affiliated Sapi (Sierra Leone) workshops, late 16th century CE. Afro-Portuguese saltcellars were prestige objects commissioned by Portuguese traders from West African ivory carvers, blending European heraldic and African motifs. The Chatsworth example documents the Atlantic trade-contact cultural exchange that preceded and paralleled the palace bronze-casting tradition. Not a direct product of the 1897 seizure — may have entered English collection via trade before 1897 — but contextually linked to Benin cultural production.
Scholarly Significance
Afro-Portuguese saltcellar type — cross-cultural commission object made by Benin or Sapi carvers for the Portuguese export market, documenting early Atlantic trade-contact art production. Held in private aristocratic collection (Chatsworth). Distinct from pure palace-commission objects.
Notes
- ·Afro-Portuguese ivories (saltcellars, hunting horns, spoons) are the earliest documented category of African art made explicitly for export to Europe, predating the 1897 looting by nearly 400 years.
- ·Attribution to 'Benin or Sapi' reflects scholarly uncertainty about whether these objects were made at Benin City or at related Sapi workshops in Sierra Leone — the two traditions produced similar export ivories.
- ·The saltcellar's presence at Chatsworth may reflect 17th-18th century aristocratic collecting of 'curiosities' from English trade networks rather than direct connection to the 1897 expedition.