Focusing on the Sapi Kingdom of Sierra Leone and the Edo Kingdom of Benin The printing press was not only used as a means of producing multiple copies of books which could then be used to communicate by means of words but was also used as a means of producing multiple copies of imagery that could communicate the important components of beliefs to any audience regardless of literacy abilities. The dissemination of Christian, particularly Protestant and Catholic, ideals exist in the oldest record of western prints dating back to the start of the fifteenth century. Typically, these prints depict scenes from the narrative of the stations of the cross, imagery of people’s prayers to various saint figures, or interpretive representations of people being punished in hell. Printmaking, as a radical change to European culture and an advancing technology in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, extended the ability of religions, specifically Christian missionaries, to spread their respective knowledge through religious documentation within other empires. The spread of religious beliefs, especially during the Portuguese conquests of West Africa, introduced imagery by the usage of prints thus offering a new influence upon West African artists. The influence of religious Portuguese prints is most notably observed in the change of form and function perceived in the ivory artworks sculpted by the fine arts artisans from Sierra Leone and Benin. Ivory relief sculptures of West African artists, particularly from Sierra Leone and Benin, illustrate the influence of religious art from Portuguese printmaking on West African art styles. This influence is best exemplified in the differences between the West African ivories created prior to the mid-fifteenth century and the Afro-Portuguese ivories sculpted following the integration from trade of Portuguese culture arising in the mid-fifteenth century. The Value of Ivory Kings across Africa often associate themselves with physically large and characteristically powerful non-human animals in order to attribute the symbolically represented qualities to the king. An elephant allegorically embodies the merits of leadership, wisdom, physical fortitude, and permanence within West African cultures. The symbolic representation of an elephant is thusly often identified in association with the present day Mansa, king of the Sapi, or the Oba, king of the Edo. The medium of ivory is dense and firm but also somewhat flexible in the sense that it is not likely to crack or split while carving. When combined with the typical characteristic of a uniform grain of which is easier for multi-directional carving, ivory becomes an idyllic medium for precise marks, delicate apertures, and soft transitions. Thusly the ivory medium provided the opportunity for a highly detailed relief sculpture. Throughout the centuries, the Obas of Benin would receive one of the two tusks belonging to an elephant who was slain in the land of his, the king’s, kingdom. Since ivory was seen as a rare commodity because of the amount of difficulties which contributed to acquiring the tusks and the limited amount offered from killing a single elephant, the artistic liberties and desires to carve ivories were much more restricted than other media, such as wood. Before allowing an artist to carve the elephant’s incisor, they had to prove themselves capable of working with such a sacred and highly valued material. In Sierra Leone and Benin, artists learned their trade through an apprenticeship guild. Sapi and Edo ivory-carving artist masters instructed their apprentices, who dedicated their lives to learning and mastering the art of carving ivory. Artists were considered to be ivory-carving masters after they perfected the requirement of having sculpted wooden maquettes. These maquettes would provide the verification of a proficient repertoire of designs and motifs that had been passed down from previous generations. Only carvers who had proven their mastery of techniques, style, and narrative motifs were given the opportunity to carve an ivory tusk. Even still, those who were given the title of master had their specialties which contributed elements to the summation of a single ivory-relief tusk. The symbolic implications and permanence of ivory in addition to its ability to hold delicate details, made this material a desirable matrix in which to impart historical knowledge of the ancestors and preceding cultural practices for the future descendants. West African Ivories The practice of conveying wisdom and erudition of cultural history and customs to succeeding generations is particularly evident in the purpose of the ivory relief sculptures from Benin as well as the imagery depicted on West African Ivories. The Benin palace is the sacred place in which the ancestral altar, dedicated to an Oba, is maintained. The finished sculptures were inserted into brass-casted sculptures of the heads of Obas. The large ivory relief sculptures which protruded from the tops of the head sculptures symbolically represent the Oba. The extension from the head bear a resemblance to the ede which distinguishes the crown of the Oba from other diadems. In Benin ritual practices, blood, bodily fluids, and other ritual material were sacrificed to sacredly consecrated and amplify the spiritual power of the ivory. After each sacrifice, the ivories were washed to reveal the naturally radiant ivory color. Often times, orhue, a kaolin-type substance, was either washed in a painterly-like fashion or buffed by hand onto the surface of the ivory. This practice of cleansing and whitening the ivory strengthens the symbolic and visual connection to orhue thus emphasizing the value of joyfulness, harmony, virtue, purity, and prosperity. Imagery depicted on West African ivories are representational of former kings, repeated imagery of the present king, remarkable war chiefs, warriors, the royal servants, culturally significant symbols, and zoological depictions who symbolize the power of royalty. The subject matter depicted on the ivory relief sculptures are carved in orderly queues which encircle the form of the tusk. Each of the altar tusks feature an enclosing embellishment of intertwining lines of pattern. This intertwining element is symbolic of the way in which the imagery is encircled entwining the tusk form, thus culminating in a purpose of increasing the power of the king. This practice of transmission between successive generations which communicated the historical culture and customary rituals held the primary function and forms of imagery illustrated on the ivories leading up to the mid-fifteenth century. Afro-Portuguese Ivories In 1460, the Portuguese arrived at the coastline of Sierra Leone and later, in 1485, they arrived at Benin. The Portuguese initiated trading interactions with the intention of enlightening the West Africans of Christianity, giving them horses and other material items, as well as assisting the Oba during times of war, in return for precious raw materials and spare people to go to Portugal as slaves. Despite being unsuccessful in obtaining slaves, Portugal benefitted from an unchallenged opportunity of trade with West Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for a couple of reasons. While the epidemic of the bubonic plague infected countries across Europe, Portugal’s geographic boundaries offered fortification from infection. Furthermore, a series of Islamic ruling interludes provided Portugal with extensive advances in mathematics as well as seafaring navigation and technology of which were discovered in the Middle East and spread across to other areas governed by Islam, thus supplying Portugal with the knowledge of traveling through the Atlantic Sea. In Sierra Leone, the Portuguese became less interested in the spread of religion and intentions of conversion, and focused their interests more on the financial benefits through the monopolistic trade opportunity. Nevertheless, the missionaries within the Portuguese groups continued to spread religious print documentations with the Sapi and the Edo kingdoms. It was transformation in function and form from the West African ivories to the Afro-Portuguese ivories which supports an influence of cultural unison and of imagery from printmaking on the West African artisans. The Mansas of the Sapi and the Obas of the Edo directed their artists to create gifts and commissions of ivory sculptures combining elements of their respective cultures mixed with inspiration depicted from the religious prints given to them by the Portuguese. Ivories sculpted by West African artisans in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries thus displayed a transformation in the function and form. The Afro-Portuguese ivories were sculpted for utilitarian function. They took on the shapes of covered vessels to be used as saltcellars and pyxes, multi-purpose oliphant objects, as well as eating utensils such as spoons, forks, and handles for knives. Oliphants, or hunting horns, were created for both religious and secular functions. When given to churches or with the intention of religious practice, they held the purpose of performing as a reliquary case. In nonspiritual purposes, the oliphants would have functioned as alarms used to announce phases during the European hunting practices, indications of high feudal merits, or with a more royal quotidian use, as drinking vessels. In addition to the influence on an alteration in function, the imagery depicted in the religious Portuguese prints also guided a change in the form of West African ivories. The oliphants in particular display elements and ornamentation inspired by scenes depicted in the religious Portuguese prints. Other ivory sculptures carved for Europeans in addition to the tusks carved with the intention of remaining within the Sapi and Edo kingdoms feature imagery which display West African people with Portuguese people living in unison with one another. Some of these sculptures also portray imagery of people wearing Sapi costumes and European hats. These Afro-Portuguese ivories were innovative. They were sculpted by experimental and inventive artists who created art which came to serve as cultural intermediaries. Concluding Analyses Despite the lack in written documentation, there is a clear visual transformation of the form and functions of the ivory sculptures carved by West African artisans. This transformation is observed most clearly in the comparison of Sapi and Edo ivory sculptures made prior to Portuguese arrival with the ivory sculptures made in the aforementioned kingdoms after the arrival of the Portuguese in the mid-fifteenth century. The symbolic qualities of elephants hold the intrinsic worth of leadership, wisdom, physical fortitude, and permanence. These qualities which are transmitted by the matrix of the elephant’s incisor represent the West African kingships. The rare commodity of ivory was so highly valued that artists were required to learn from guilds and master their specified techniques and ancestral imagery prior to their prospect of carving ivory. The West African ivories were sculpted to transmit the wisdom and knowledge of cultural history and customs to successive generations. The Edo traditions in particular utilize the visual aspects of the ivory tusk, which is displayed as protruding from brass-casted sculptures of heads, to visually simulate the ede. The visual depiction of the ede distinguishes the Oba’s crown from other diadems. Edo sacred rituals also interchange between charging the tusks with spiritual power by consecrating them with bodily fluids and nourishing substances, to being purified by bleaching and whitened with orhue, a kaolin-type substance. In addition to the physical aspects of the ivory, there is the visual components of imagery. The intertwining imagery of powerful figures and zoological depictions who symbolize the power of royalty reflect the interlaced lines of pattern which appear at the ends and throughout the reliefs on the tusks. These interwoven elements symbolically represent the culmination of the increased power of the king. The advancing technology of the printing press impelled radical changes in European culture. Once the printing press was utilized for artistic purposes, missionaries realized the potential for a more efficient dissemination of Christian beliefs. Portugal had an advantage over other European countries for trade abilities in other continents’ countries as a result of geographic fortification from the bubonic plague epidemic as well as the influences from Islamic advancements in mathematics and seafaring navigation abilities and technology advancements. Portuguese Protestant and Catholic missionaries in particular utilized the easiest form of spreading religious documentation, in using prints, during Portuguese travels to West Africa. Caused from the monopolistic trade and dissemination of Christian beliefs through prints, West African ivories transformed the forms and functions to match the Portuguese influence. The Afro-Portuguese ivories were sculpted for utilitarian function, such as crockery utensils and extravagant leisurely objects. The change in imagery depicted on the ivories was also influenced by the Portuguese culture. The elements and ornamentation on the Afro-Portuguese ivories were inspired by scenes depicted in the religious Portuguese prints, featured representations of coexisting West Africans and Portuguese people, as well as individuals simultaneously dress in West African and Portuguese attire. The transition of form and function in the sculptures made from the highly valued medium of elephant tusk ivory suggests the significance of Portuguese influence on West Africa. This transition in form and function provides sufficient evidence to infer that Portuguese prints were at the center of experimental and inventive West African artisans. The Portuguese use of the easiest and most efficient approach, at the time, of spreading religious documentation, that is by means of prints, stimulated a transformation of the West African artists to produce a hybrid art that is representative of the interaction of cultures. Bibliography
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About this PageThis page consists of analyses, interpretations, and translations for various artists, artworks, and art movements from my perspective. Explore the Archives for more. AuthorTessa Barretto Archives
September 2020
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