T AFRO-PORTUGUESE OLIFANTS WITH HUNTING SCENES (C. 1490- C. 1540)* LUÍS U. AFONSO AND JOSÉ DA SILVA HORTA his article studies Sapi-Portuguese ivory olifants carved with scenes derived from European visual models. Produced in Serra Leoa ca. 1490-1530, they are important historical evidence of artistic and cultural interaction between Portugal and the societies of the Guinea Coast at a moment when those relations were relatively symmetrical. The composition and decoration of the olifants are analyzed from the European side. The circulation of visual models for the works is discusssed, emphasizing similarities to some engravings and to some Manueline silver. Finally, the paper discusses the role of these ivories in establishing the identity of European aristocracy of the period. Most likely the Afro-Portuguese ivories that we know constitute only a small part of the objects produced during the period under consideration. These pieces, almost all of which were clearly intended for export, must have been less numerous than those destined for local consumption. 1 Bearingin mind that our principal concern inthisstudylies in the interaction between African and European art, especially in the use and adaptation of European visual models by African artists, we here limit our analysis of a group of works clearly, by their appearance, produced for export from Serra Leoa, and we refer to these works as Sapi-Portuguese. 2 These pieces make use of iconographic elements pertaining to European visual culture, which they combine with typologies and forms that are typically African. These works ingeniously resolve certain complex problems, such as adapting two-dimensional rectangular compositions to cylindrical *A version of this article was originally published in Portuguese in the journal Artis, volume 1, 2013, pp. 20-29. Mande Studies is grateful to Artis, and to the Editor, Professor Vitor Serrão of the University of Lisbon, for kindly agreeing to allow publication of this English version of that essay. The following paper is the first official publication produced by the working group, “Marfins,” based in the Departments of History and History of Art, at the University of Lisbon. Translation by Peter Mark. Mande Studies 15 (2013) pp. 79-97