Art History

The artwork shown here is a lidded saltcellar from the 15th to 16th century. It is an example of extraordinarily skilled workmanship and shows an important convergence of cultures. It is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York, New York. It is 11 and 3/4 inches tall or 29.8 cm.   The material used to make it is ivory and it was made by the Sapi-Portuguese. The Sapi sculptors who made it were working on this piece of art in what is now Sierra Leone. In the second half of the 15th century Portuguese explorers and traders were very impressed with the talent of the ivory carvers along the coast of West Africa. Because of this they were inspired to start making works of their own for their patrons. They combined European and African forms to their artworks. Also during this period, salt and pepper were serious commodities and elaborate containers were considered appropriate for the storage of them in homes. Salt was pretty rare though and only wealthy people were able to...