Spoon

This is a 16th century spoon, carved out of a single piece of ivory. It has a slender stem handle, with spiralled decoration, and a thin, leaf-shaped, bowl. The British Museum records refer to this as Afro-Portuguese, a term used to indicate items from Sierra Leone and Nigeria, made for a Portuguese market in the 15th and 16th centuries. Such items display a mixture of African and European elements and motifs in their overall form and ornamentation, and were considered prestige items across Europe. A more specific term for items patronised in Sierra Leone, is Sapi-Portuguese.

Further Information

• Type: Ivories
• Object: Spoon
• Materials: Bone, ivory, tooth
• Culture Group: Bullom, Temne
• Dimensions: 212mm [L]
• Production Date: 1490-1530
• Associated Places: Unknown
• Associated People: William Maskell
• Museum: British Museum
• Accession Number: BM:Af.1856.623.164

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