African ivories
[2] There are however several existing examples of carved ivory masks, statuettes, caskets, jewelry, bells, rattles, and other emblems of importance created during this period in Benin and Niger.
[5] The Muslim Arab invasion of North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries brought about trade with Africans south of the Sahara.
In these areas, elephant tusks and other forms of ivory were traded for exotic novelties such as silk, copper ornaments, damascened swords, pots, and pans.
[2] Additionally, during this period, overseas contracts were established in eastern Africa to furthering the trade of African ivory.
Portugal, enamored by the prospect of African ivory began searching for alternate sources that did not involve trading with the Muslims.
[3] During their expeditions, the Portuguese also marked locations across the African coast where they would be able to easily establish bases and forts as well as take advantage of the indigenous people and resources.
[2] The new presence of the Portuguese and growing demand in Europe for ivory stimulated life in old trade routes into central Africa.
[4] This trade expanded so quickly that by the sixteenth century approximately 30,000 pounds of African ivory passed through the port of Sofala.
[2] African port cities were equipped to handle the sudden increase of exports with existing trade networks and robust infrastructure.
[2] A significant number of these ivories are now in the British Museum, many of them made in Sierra Leone and Benin in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
[8] Richly decorated oliphants, or side-blown horns, from the sixteenth century are among the earliest known of the Kongo Kingdom's royal commissions in ivory.
Uniquely, these African-made ivory objects show imagery that predates the later colonialist and racist iconography due to ensuing power-imbalance between Europe and Africa.
There were also domesticated animals such as enchained elephants, and mythical creatures shown as unicorns, centaurs, and birds with unusual body parts.
Because all of the known Bini-Portuguese oliphants share these features, it is recognized that they were all created by royal carvers that were a part of the oba’s igbesamwan guild.
[12] Around the middle of the nineteenth century, a new style of ivory carving developed in the area to meet the demand of the export trade along the Loango Coast of west-central Africa.
[16] Scenes commonly portrayed in relief on the ivories capture the dynamic and cosmopolitan coastal activity related to the transatlantic trade.
