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Salt cellar with lid

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Ivory in unworked form, as well as ornate objects carved from ivory such as salt pots or spoons, were coveted trade products for the European market. Their production by West African artists began immediately after the arrival of the Portuguese on the West African coast in the second half of the 15th century. The lid of this salt jar is in the shape of a hemisphere with a second spherical jar on top. The sides are each formed by a Portuguese horseman. At the back is a Portuguese man with a manilla in his raised hand.

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Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Salt cellar with lid
Dimensions
Weight: 2 kg
Height: 13 cm
Width: 8,5 cm
Depth: 8,5 cm
Material/Technique
Ivory
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III C 4890 a,b

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    where
    Benin [kingdom]
  • Production
    when
    16th century
    where
    Nigeria
    Benin
  • Change of legal title:
    Acquisition
    Description
    16th century, commissioned, probably in the Kingdom of Benin; before 1890 in the Königlich-Preußische Kunstkammer in the Königliches (now Neues Museum); transferred to the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde around 1890.
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Africa

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

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