The Art of early Atlantic contacts: Sapi ivory artists and Portuguese buyers in Sierra Leone (1490-1540)

On African Art influences.

Among the most sophisticated sculptural traditions in Africa were the ivory artworks made by the Sapi people during the 16th century in the Upper Guinea region of modern Sierra Leone, their high quality carvings found ready market across Europe, brought by Portuguese traders who purchased hundreds of them as luxury items. The historiography about the nature of their manufacture is however contested, and marred by the dichotomous discourses common in African Art history that tend to overstate foreign influences and understate local contexts. African creativity and intellectual achievements have often been put aside in Western scholarship in favor of a claimed European participation in processes of building African skills. Most scholars emphasize hybridity through the hypothesis of a European destination, and the objects, themes and scenes depicted on Sapi artworks have often been solely identified as icons and influences from Europe.

The received wisdom concerning the art history of the Sapi sculptural tradition is that it was a largely ephemeral tradition that emerged in the mid-15th century under Portuguese impetus solely for export, and that it vanished by the mid 16th century due to the political upheavals that followed the invasions of various groups from the interior, and so the argument goes, that its for this reason that there are few resemblances between the Sapi ivories and the more recent artworks from the region. But this belief is ill-founded as more recent discoveries of; local pre-European soapstone carvings; ivory and wood carvings from the last three centuries; and the widespread use of motifs that appear on the 16th century Sapi ivories and the local artworks, provides firm evidence that the Sapi ivories were neither isolated nor an ephemeral art tradition but part of a larger indigenous corpus of artworks whose production both pre-dated and persisted after the era of European contact.

This article explorers the Art History of the Sapi, comparing the 16th century Ivory carvings with the wider corpus of stone, ivory and wood artworks in the region in order to interpret the Sapi art tradition in its local context, and show its continuity from the early Atlantic era to the recent past.

Map of modern Sierra Leone and Guinea language groups showing the distribution of the Sapi ((Mel-language family)

---

Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:

---

The Sapi were a Mel-speaking group who were autochthonous in the region between Guinea-­Bissau and Sierra Leone in what is often called the Upper Guinea coast region, and their linguistic descendants include the Baga, Temne, Kissi among other languages. The region later came under the control of "Mani" states from the 15-16th century founded by madinka/mende speakers from the southern fringes of the Mali empire and the Soso kingdom.¹ The latter were initially living in the region as communities of scholars and traders but over time managed to acquire a level of political hegemony over the Sapi groups during the upheavals of the 16th and 17th century, although the process of consolidating their rule was protracted². Ivory was prized in royal iconography among both the Sapi and Mani groups, and Sapi sculptors, who also produced sophisticated soap-stone and wood carvings, were employed in making intricately carved ivory objects for local elites. Documentary evidence attests to the export of African ivories made by Sapi artists as early as the second half of the 15th century. These ivory works included ivory salt-cellars, oliphants (trumpets/hunting horns) and spoons as well as un-carved ivory tusks.³

16th century side-blown ivory horn made for an African ruler by a sapi artist (no. 71.1933.6.4 D Quai Branly Museum)

The raw material, the sculptor, the workshop, and the resources applied in the production were of African origin. The artisans could exercise their creativity and evoke either local or foreign references, in dialogue with the expansion of global borders. The indigenous Sapi sculptural tradition of carving ivory, stone and wood objects, their distinctive motifs and art forms, ultimately dictated the forms of ivory objects that were made for Portuguese traders —whose first contact with the Sapi was in the 1460s— and were part of a larger corpus of artworks whose production continued for several centuries after the period of first contact.⁴ The Sapi artisans were highly specialized and could work on demand, as noted by several Portuguese traders active in the region, and the ordering of a number pieces to be sent to Portugal. The Portuguese chronicler Valentim Fernandes wrote in his 1510 book ‘Description of the West African coast south of the Senegal River’ that; “they (the Sapi) make subtle works of ivory like spoons, salt-cellars and manillas. The men of this region are highly skilled Blacks in the manual arts, which is to say, making ivory salt cellars and spoons, and anything that you draw for them, they can carve in ivory”.⁵

ivory spoons made by sapi artists with figures of crocodiles, birds, goats and monkeys ( Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden)

The comparison of the iconography in some of the pieces, with Portuguese heraldry symbols from the same time, has allowed art historians to date the production of one set of ivories to the period between c. 1490 and c. 1540. That the Sapi ivories were eventually bought by Portuguese traders does not necessarily imply they had all been ordered by them, the Sapi ivories —including the ‘hybrid’ types— are far more African than Portuguese⁶. The majority of Sapi pieces were primarily produced with a focus on the immediate local market, as well as the export market, and they were bought by the Portuguese due to the exotic appeal of those objects to these buyers.⁷ The Sapi’s excellence in carving wasn't spontaneous but was rather the result of many years of training and experience, artists who were commissioned to carve in ivory for the Mani elites and the Portuguese were thus already highly trained and experienced sculptors, carving for indigenous patronage. They carved spoons, trumpets, bowls, snuff containers, staffs, ritual masks, wood figures, and stone figures for their own kings, chiefs, and other people of means, carving whatever was asked of them, in any form desired by the patron.⁸ And contrary to the long held notion that the ivory works were solely for export, recent research based on various 17th century sources has presented strong evidence for domestic consumption as well, in which the trumpets, bowls, ivory spoons and salt cellars were retained by local elites as an index of prestige and social differentiation.⁹

Oliphant from sierra leone made for a mende chief by a Sapi artist, early 20th century (no. 2011.70.45, Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

In written sources from the 15th to the 17th century, this Upper guinea coast region, appears as a site of important workshops. In a description written between 1507 and 1510, based on information provided by a Portuguese captain named Alvaro Velho do Barreiro, who lived on the Senegambian coast for eight years, the chronicler Valentim Fernandes, in describing the ivory production of the region, wrote that "in Sierra Leone, the men are very skillful and very ingenious, they make wonderful ivory works of all kinds of the things one tells them to do. Some make spoons, other saltcellars, others hilts for daggers and any other Subtlety".¹⁰

---

Carving soap-stone

The oldest attested art tradition among the Sapi was the carving of soap-stone into objects for ceremonial and ritual use beginning in the 10th century.¹¹ Many of the motifs used on the soap-stone figures, give evidence that the carvers of ivory for the Portuguese were translating imagery from Sapi culture directly from the stone carving tradition, likely from their own work.¹² Stone carves combined various anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features derived from indigenous conceptions of the natural and spiritual world as related in the totemic animal ancestor of each clan. The stone carvings, called ‘nomolis’, include depict animals such as elephants, cats, and birds with human figures standing on top of them, next to them or enaging with them. These depictions were often visual metaphors rather than literal juxtapositions, and they represented hieratic relationships and faunal symbols of royalty. Motiffs such as mounted figures, which appear in stone, also appear in ivory including the elephant (representing strength) and the leopard (for its aggression) while the human would refer to the legitimacy of royal prerogative.¹³ Another common motif was the image of the sitting figures, these are often shown in a squatting position and holding their hands in various gestures such as holding them to their chins, crossing them, or placed behind their bodies; the seated figures appear on both stone and ivory carvings, the other less common motif is one depicting heads surrounding a warrior figure, this appears on stone carvings and salt cellars and represents a funerary tradition for high ranking Sapi warriors and kings who were at times interned with the trophies of the enemy warriors killed in battle.¹⁴ The motif of the crocodile also features prominently in stone and ivory carvings, its at times shown climbing the human figures, swarming next to the human figure or swallowing them. The interplay between the figures and crocodiles fits into indigenous concepts of the transformation of spiritually powerful human beings into crocodiles for the purpose of executing justice, the human figures (often women) who are shown controlling the crocodiles, held extraordinary ritual powers.¹⁵ Snakes and Dogs also appear frequently in Sapi art, the former are associated with the expression of spiritual power, while the latter were seen as royal emblems and were central to many religious rituals.¹⁶ In general, the stone and ivory carvers of the Sapi shared a mutual worldview that was perpetuated by the Sapi’s savant elite including the artists who expressed the elite's sacred concepts in various mediums.¹⁷

left to right by pair; Nomoli statue of seated figure with a crocodile (african arts gallery), 16th century sapi salt-cellar with seated figure surrounded by crocodiles (No. 68.10.10 a, b, Seattle art museum); Nomoli statue of a Warrior figure holding a shield in one hand an a weapon in another, surrounded by several heads (no 70.2013.33.1 at Quai Branly), 16th century sapi salt cellar with warrior figure holding a shield and a weapon, and surrounded by several heads (no 104079 Museo delle Civiltà) Nomoli Figure Riding on an Elephant (2006.51.412 Yale university art gallery) 16th century Saltcellar with Male Figure Riding on an Elephant (No. 118.609 welt museum vienna) Nomili stature of two opposite facing heads, and a 16th century lid of an ivory salt cellar with opposite facing heads (both at British museum Af1947,18.3 and Af1952,18.1.a )

---

Ivory Salt-cellars

Sapi salt-cellars generally fall in two groups of shapes; those in which the bowl of the saltcellar rests on a platform supported by a ring of caryatid human figures; and those that are shaped roughly like a stemmed cup. For the first group; there are several wooden caryatid stools and drums carved in the form similar to the substructure of these saltcellars have been found among the Baga in Guinea.¹⁸ Besides the above mentioned motifs appearing on stone and wooden sculptures, there are a number of motifs that are more frequently depicted on the medium of ivory due to its malleability compared to stone. Ivory sculptors paid closer attention to the human figures on most of the saltcellars are depicted with features typical of the regional groups' physiognomy with an elongated, diagonal face with a prominent nose whose nasal bridge begins between the eyes, full lips, and oversized eyes that framed by a raised line indicating the lid and the lower edge.¹⁹

The clothing and hairstyles of the figures appearing on the salt cellars, are also more elaborately depicted and include; men wearing robes, hats, footwear and the knee-length trousers/shorts, as well as women wearing neck beads and waist-level robes , all of which were described by as common attire in the region by a number of external writers in the 16th century including André Álvares de Almada.²⁰ Despite earlier confusion in the exact identity of the figures depicted in most of the salt cellars that had some scholars postulating that the men were European (by virtue of their dressing) and that the women were African (by virtue of their partial nudity), a closer analysis of the faces of both male and female figures, reveals that they are of the same phenotype (as in most of the Sapi’s corpus), making it unlikely that the skilled sculptors who carved lots of different forms of animals, humans, and objects, and also unquestionably European figures on some of the the ivory horns discussed below, could conflate different physiognomies on the same objects.²¹ Similar representations of the gender dichotomy in the attire of Sapi figures can also be found on wooden drums whose caryatid figures depict men in various forms of attire while females wear a robe over the lower half of their bodies. The caryatid element in the Sapi saltcellars is itself generally accepted, in the absence of any plausible Portuguese models, to be an indigenous African one, derived from objects that Africans were making for themselves on this part of the Upper Guinea coast in the late 15th century.²²

16th century carved ivory salt-cellars with caryatid substructures (No. Af.5117.a British museum; 14.2010.3 The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Af.170 British museum)

drum made by the Baga of Guinea with caryatid male and female figures with different types of clothing, early 20th century (private collection) ; stool made by the Baga in Liberia with female figures, early 20th century (no. 2006.51.423 Yale university gallery)

Saltcellars of the second group also feature vignettes that include African fauna that are important in regional concepts of royal and ritual power including crocodiles, monkeys, serpents, represent elements of local culture such as the scarification ceremonies in which a 17th century writer described the sierra Leoneans had covered "the body, face and limbs decorated with a thousand different paintings of snakes, lizards, howler monkeys, birds, etc".²³ A recurring motif in Sapi saltcellars of this type is that the knop or node in the middle of the stem is decorated with coiling snakes whose heads project downward to confront face-to-face the raised heads of crouching animals (lizards, crocodiles, dogs) sculpted in high relief on the sloping surface of the base. While the form of the salt-cellar mimics a Portuguese chalice, this use of crocodile and serpent figures has no parallel in Europe for this medium but was a distinctively Sapi decorative feature and appears in other carved objects produced in the region including ceremonial masks.²⁴

16th century sapi salt-cellars with exclusively local motifs; salt-cellar with seated figures, serpents and a seated figure at the top smoking a pipe (no. 63468 welt museum); salt-cellar with crouching crocodiles at the bottom confronting serpents, and seated female figure at the top (no. C 4886 a,b Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) salt-cellar with seated figures at the bottom surrounded by crocodiles, coiling serpents around the stem and at the top (C 4888 a,b Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) salt-cellar with seated male and female figures and swarming crocodiles (no. Af1867,0325.1b. British museum)

16th century sapi salt-cellars combining local and foreign motiffs; salt-cellar with mythical beasts at the bottom and an armillary sphere with latin inscriptions (no 17036 a,b Ethnologisches Museum Berlin); salt-cellar with madonna and child at the top, the youths in the fiery furnace, serpents, and daniel in the lions’ den (no Af1981,35.1.a-b british museum)

Sapi artists also carved elaborate vignettes on salt-cellars that included scenes of human and faunal figures in countryside, the interpretation of these vignettes is facilitated by contemporary documentation of local practices,²⁵ representations of figures holding books or papers which emphasizes the importance attributed to writing within the region, whose long contact with the Senegambia scholarly networks and itinerant communities of marabouts (teachers; mostly from the Senegambia and Mali regions) encouraged the adoption of literacy especially writing boards/tablets and written amulets/gris-gris; the latter of which were popular among non-Muslim groups. This tradition that was further promoted by the increased importation of European paper from Portuguese traders.²⁶

16th century Sapi salt cellars with vignettes of local scenes; bottom half of a salt-cellar with male figures holding tablet/book/papers, female figures, crocodiles, birds, monkeys and local flora (C 168 Ethnologisches Museum Berlin), salt-cellar with human figures, crocodiles and plants at base, and serpent curled around the stem (Af1949,46.177 British museum); salt-cellar with male and female figures holding various objects against a background of plants, and crouching dogs confronting serpents (1991.435a, b met museum)

---

Ivory Oliphants

Ceremonial side-blown horns were important objects in Sapi society prior to their contact with the Portuguese, these unique devices often had a small stop-hole at the end (for moderating sound) that was covered with an animal finial, and were later adopted by the Sapi's Mani overlords in the 16th century who continued to commission the carving of side-blown horns well into the 19th century.²⁷ However, unlike the side-blown horns made by Sapi artists (and most African artists), the ones made specifically for export were end-blown in a manner which was more familiar with their intended Portuguese buyers. The Sapi artists transformed the sound-moderation stop-hole into an open-ended hole, and also closed the side-blown holes, inorder to make the horn into one more familiar with their intended European customers.²⁸ On top of this transformation, some of the sapi carvers included hunting scenes, Christian figures, and mythical beasts on a few of the ivory horns, using images inspired by illustrated engravings in the so-called "book of hours" prayer books that were completed in the early years of the 16th century²⁹, and were possessed by some of the Portuguese traders active in the region, and it is for the latter reason that makes it possible that a select few of the horns, such as those with Portuguese insignia, may have been carved on the cape-Verde islands by Sapi artists.³⁰

16th century end-blown Ivory Olifant carved by the Sapi in Sierra Leone, depicting various hunting scenes and the Portuguese court of arms and armillary sphere. (no. 10 Musei Reali di Torino, Armeria Reale)

16th century end-blown Ivory Oliphants from sierra Leone depicting hunting scenes with human and animal figures, and Portuguese armillary sphere (no. 108828 Luigi Pigorini, Rome) and (no. Af1979,01.3156 british museum)

Documentary references to the import of Sapi ivory horns by Portuguese traders are contained in the inventories of the possessions of several Portuguese mariners, including three oliphants commissioned in 1490 bearing the court of arms of Portugal and Castille to support the principle that D. Afonso should be heir to the throne, and several other Sapi ivory horns were re-exported through the Portuguese-controlled Indian port of Calecut and thus mislabeled geographically.³¹ Yet despite the inclusion of Portuguese figures and symbols, the latter’s influence was confined to the subject of the engraved scenes and not on the process or quality of the engraved artworks itself, because commissioners of works of art are not themselves artists and cannot infuse into the objects they commission artistic qualities that they themselves do not possess.³²

16th century Sapi oliphant populated with various hunting scenes arranged in five zones separated by rings decorated with interlacing, twists or beaded motifs, animals shown include; a lion and dragon; deer attacked by a pack of dogs, clashing dragons, unicorn, elephant. (no 71.1933.6.1 D Quai branly), oliphant with various hunting scenes slightly similar to the one above (no 2006.51.192 Yale university)

16th century ivory Oliphant made by a Sapi artist in sierra leone for export, depicting a hunting scene, various latin inscriptions, and the heraldic shields of Manuel of Portugal. (no. 2005-6-9 Smithsonian museum)

---

“End” of a tradition?

The Sapi had long been in contact with the various groups from the interior in both the Senegambia region and in the southern reaches of the Mali empire, from where a few groups had during the 15th century, moved into parts of the coastal regions that had been predominated by the Sapi , and it is most likely that the depiction of men carrying books and tablets is a manifestation of local culture associated with the Mali-Senegambia Muslim culture³³. While Portuguese trading records indicate that the importation of these ivories formally ended by the mid­-16th century when their attention turned other regions especially in west central Africa³⁴, the carving of ivory by the Sapi continued through the late 17th century and local uses of oliphants carved in ivories by Africans are presented in various mid-16th­ and 17th­ century sources, long after both the Portuguese had ceased ivory imports and the Mani had invaded the region.³⁵

Manuel Álvares, in 1615 in his discussion of the Sapi people of the Upper Guinea coast, writes that “Because of their ability and intelligence some of them have the gift of artistic imagination… The variety of their handicrafts is due to their artistry. They make… spoons made of ivory, beautifully finished, the handles carved in entertaining shapes, such as the heads of animals, birds or their corofis (idols), all done with such perfection that it has to be seen to be believed; betes or rachons, which are round and are used as low seats, and are made in curious shapes to resemble lizards and other small creatures. In sum, they are, in their own way, skilled at handicrafts.” The decorative seats with figures of lizards or crocodiles he mentions were still being made by the Baga in the early 20th century³⁶. another source: André Donelha, in 1625, reported a great trade in ivory at the Ribe River, a tributary to the Sierra Leone Estuary. And he mentioned a Sapi group under the control of Mani overlords who used ivory trumpets in war. Francisco de Lemos Coelho, in 1669, mentioned “many curiosities that the negroes make from ivory” in the town of Mitombo (Port Loko). He also specified the carving of human figures in ivory to represent the Temne “corofim” (aŋ­kǝrfi), or spiritual beings, for indigenous ritual, not for sale to the Europeans. ³⁷

While the "Mani" incursions altered some of the social and political structures of the environment in which the Sapi artists lived, the drawn-out process of political consolidation, acculturation and conflict between the Mani, the Sapi and other more recent groups meant that the art tradition didn't vanish suddenly in the 16th century when the incursions are said to have occurred but continued in a modified form in the centuries that followed, and Sapi carvers continued to work with ivory, wood and stone to fashion them into the sophisticated objects of art which were widely appreciated. ³⁸

---

Conclusion: the Sapi as a local art tradition.

The iconography of the Sapi ivories reflects local cultural practices, incorporating references to religious concepts and rituals, and decorations of vignettes that embody temporal authority, as well as references to specific prerogatives that defined elevated social status. While some of the imagery depicted on the Sapi ivories is of undeniably Portuguese/European origin, The vast majority of Sapi motifs, and iconography is derived from local concepts of power and ritual. Quantitatively, its easy to perceive that the Portuguese influence upon the Sapi stone figures is small but significant due to the tastes of the Portuguese buyers for whom it was intended, But the Sapi content is on the other hand, very certain and pervasive across virtually all the local and exported corpus of artworks.

A continuing tradition; Ivory artworks from the Sierra Leone National Museum made in the early 20th century.

---

Read and Download books on African history on my Patreon

---

*prg means paragraph while *pg means page

1. Unmasking the State: Making Guinea Modern By Mike McGovern 31-36)

2. Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century by Unesco pg 380)

3. Afro-Portuguese Olifants with hunting scenes (c. 1490- c. 1540) by by LU Afonso pg 80)

4. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 157)

5. Afro-Portuguese Olifants with hunting scenes (c. 1490- c. 1540) by by LU Afonso pg 81).

6. African Meanings and European-African Discourse by Peter Mark pg 239

7. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries Thiago H. Mota prg 41, 64)

8. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp prg 72)

9. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 43-44)

10. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 40)

11. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp prg 10)

12. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp pg 30)

13. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 44)

14. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 41)

15. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries pg 47)

16. African Meanings and European-African Discourse by Peter Mark pg 249

17. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 47-46)

18. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 82)

19. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 56)

20. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 57)

21. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 10

22. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 83)

23. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 57-58)

24. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 84-85)

25. Finding provenance, seeking context by Peter Mark prg 19)

26. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 49-54)

27. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 79-80)

28. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 80)

29. Afro-Portuguese Echoes in the Art of Upper Guinea by William A. Hart pg 88-90)

30. Where were the Afro-Portuguese ivories made by William A. Hart pg 14-15)

31. Afro-Portuguese Olifants with hunting scenes (c. 1490- c. 1540) by by LU Afonso pg 83-84)

32. Where were the Afro-Portuguese ivories made by William A. Hart pg 4)

33. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 64)

34. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp prg 13)

35. The Ivory Saltcellars: A contribution to the history of Islamic expansion in Greater Senegambia during the 16th and 17th centuries prg 42)

36. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp prg 15)

37. Ivory and Stone: Direct Connections between Sculptural Media along the Coast of Sierra Leone, 15th– 16th Centuries, Frederick John Lamp prg 14)

38. Finding provenance, seeking context by Peter Mark prg 11-12)