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Sapi Saltceller
The collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art contains a lidded Salt cellar, saltceller. Crafted in either 15th or 16th century Sierra Leone, Sierra Lione, the item is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 352. Background Ivory carving was a traditional part of African art, West African art. It was one of the most valuable curiosities from Africa that caught the eyes of travellers. In what is now Sierra Leone, the Sapi people were noted for producing ivory pieces for export. When Portuguese traders pushed for trade along the Pepper Coast, ivory and grain coasts in the late 15th century, they began to commission local artisans to produce intricately designed ivory vessels, receptacles, and boxes for export to Europe. Given the valuable nature of ivory, these containers were typically only used to hold valuable goods, such as salt, pepper, and Spice trade, other spices, all of which the nascent Portuguese Empire was quickly gaining access to through its International trade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan Museum Of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of largest art museums, largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million visitors in 2023, it is the List of most-visited museums in the United States, most-visited museum in the United States and the List of most-visited art museums, fifth-most visited art museum in the world. In 2000, its permanent collection had over two million works; it currently lists a total of 1.5 million works. The collection is divided into 17 curatorial departments. The Met Fifth Avenue, The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile, New York, Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's list of largest art museums, largest art museums. The first portion of the approximately building ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Cellar
A salt cellar (also called a salt, salt-box) is an article of tableware for holding and dispensing salt. In British English, the term can be used for what in North American English are called salt shakers. Salt cellars can be either lidded or open, and are found in a wide range of sizes, from large shared vessels to small individual dishes. Styles range from simple to ornate or whimsical, using materials including glass and ceramic, metals, ivory and wood, and plastic. Use of salt cellars is documented as early as ancient Rome. They continued to be used through the first half of the 20th century; however, usage began to decline with the introduction of free-flowing salt in 1911, and they have been almost entirely replaced by salt shakers. Salt cellars were an early collectible as pieces of silver, pewter, glass, etc. Soon after their role at the table was replaced by the shaker, salt cellars became a popular collectible in their own right. Etymology The word salt cellar is att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,460,512. Freetown is its capital and largest city. Sierra Leone is a presidential republic, with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. It is a secular state. Its Constitution of Sierra Leone, constitution provides for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience. Muslims constitute three-quarters of the population, and there is a significant Christian minority. Notably, religious tolerance is very high. Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established in two phases: in 1808, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate, Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle retu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivory Carving
Ivory carving is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, generally by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. Objects carved in ivory are often called "ivories". Humans have ornamentally carved ivory since prehistoric times, though until the 19th-century opening-up of the interior of Africa, it was usually a rare and expensive material used for small luxury products. Very fine detail can be achieved, and as the material, unlike precious metals, has no bullion value and usually cannot easily be recycled, the survival rate for ivory pieces is much higher than for those in other materials. Ivory carving has a special importance to the medieval art of Europe because of this, and in particular for Byzantine art as so little monumental sculpture was produced or has survived. As the elephant and other ivory-producing species have become endangered, largely because of hunting for ivory, CITES and national legislation in most countries have redu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Art
African art encompasses modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual cultures originating from indigenous African diaspora, African communities across the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as art in African-American, Caribbean, and South American societies inspired by African traditions. Although diverse there are unifying artistic themes across the visual cultures from the continent of Africa. Often, art was not created for its own sake, but for social, political, or religious purposes. African art is characterized by an emphasis on conceptual or symbolic representations, rather than imitating nature, aiming to capture the subject's spiritual essence. Pottery#Africa, Pottery, Metalworking, metalwork, sculpture, Architecture of Africa, architecture, textile art, and fiber art are important Visual arts, visual art forms across Africa and may be included in the study of African Art. The term � ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pepper Coast
The Pepper Coast or Grain Coast was a coastal area of western Africa, between Cape Mesurado and Cape Palmas. It encloses the present republic of Liberia. The name was given by European traders. Origin of the name The Pepper Coast got its name from the availability in the region of the melegueta pepper (''Aframomum melegueta''), also known as the "grain of paradise", which in turn gave rise to an alternative name, the Grain Coast. The importance of the spice is shown by the designation of the area from the Saint John River (at present-day Buchanan) to Harper in Liberia as the "Grain Coast", in reference to the availability of grains of paradise. In some cases (as shown on the map pictured above), this term covers a wider area incorporating Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. See also *Slave Coast of West Africa *Gold Coast (region) *Guinea (region) Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spice Trade
The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World. These spices found their way into the Near East before the beginning of the Christian era, with fantastic tales hiding their true sources. The maritime aspect of the trade was dominated by the Austronesian peoples in Southeast Asia, namely the ancient Indonesian sailors who established routes from Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka and India (and later China) by 1500 BC. These goods were then transported by land toward the Mediterranean and the Greco-Roman world via the incense route and the Roman–India routes by Indian and Persian traders.Fage 1975: 164 The Austronesian maritime trade lanes later expanded into the Middle East and eastern Africa by the 1st millennium AD, resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa and various islands in Asia and Oceania. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, while at its greatest extent in 1820, covering 5.5 million square km ( million square miles), making it among the List of largest empires, largest empires in history. Composed of colonialism, colonies, Factory (trading post)#Portuguese feitorias (c. 1445), factories, and later Territory#Overseas territory, overseas territories, it was the longest-lived colonial empire in history, from the conquest of Ceuta in North Africa in 1415 to the handover of Macau to China in 1999. The power and influence of the Kingdom of Portugal would eventually expand across the globe. In the wake of the Reconquista, Portuguese maritime exploration, Port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has existed throughout history (for example Uttarapatha, Silk Road, Amber Road, salt roads), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries. Carrying out trade at an international level is a complex process when compared to domestic trade. When trade takes place between two or more states, factors like currency, government policies, economy, judicial system, laws, and markets influence trade. To ease and justify the process of trade between countries of different economic standing in the modern era, some international economic organizations were formed, such as the World Trade Organization. These organizations work towards the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afro-Portuguese
Afro-Portuguese ''(Afro portugueses'' or ''Lusoafricanos)'', African-Portuguese ''(Portugueses com ascendência africana)'', or Black Portuguese are Portuguese people with total or partial ancestry from any of the Sub-Saharan ethnic groups of Africa. Most of those perceived as Afro-Portuguese trace their ancestry to former Portuguese overseas colonies in Africa. Black Brazilians living in Portugal, as well as other Black people (e.g. Black Caribbean, Black Europeans) are also sometimes included, although no statistics are available, as it is illegal for the Portuguese State to collect data on ethnicity and race (similarly to what happens in other European countries such as France, Italy or Spain but contrary to the norm in the American Census). Alternatively, Afro-Portuguese ''(Afro portugueses'' or ''Lusoafricanos)'' may also refer to various populations of Portuguese descent, to various degrees, living throughout Africa, often speaking Portuguese or Portuguese creole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Atlantic Languages
The West Atlantic languages (also the Atlantic languages"West Atlantic" is the traditional term, following Diedrich Hermann Westermann; "Atlantic" is more typical in recent work, particularly since Bendor-Samuel (1989), but is also used specifically for the northern branch of West Atlantic. or North Atlantic languages) of West Africa are a major subgroup of the Niger–Congo languages. The Atlantic languages are spoken along the Atlantic coast from Senegal to Liberia, though transhumant Fula speakers have spread eastward and are found in large numbers across the Sahel, from Senegal to Nigeria, Cameroon and Sudan. Wolof of Senegal and several of the Fula languages are the most populous Atlantic languages, with several million speakers each. Other significant members include Serer and the Jola dialect cluster of Senegal. Temne, a major language of Sierra Leone, was included in the Atlantic subgroup in earlier classifications but in modern proposals, it is no longer grouped with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
