Portugal to host acclaimed Smithsonian exhibition

From 9th July to 11th October, the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon will display over 250 artefacts from the 16th and 17th centuries, taken from private collections from around the world. Previously exhibited in Washington DC, the Smithsonian Institution display in Lisbon entitled Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.

During the 16th century, Portuguese sailors braved international waters to create a global trading network extending from Europe to Brazil, Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China and Japan. This naval empire connected civilizations from all the known continents, transforming commerce and initiating unprecedented cultural exchange. Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, explores the artistic achievements that flourished when these sailors exposed new creative techniques and imagery to the world as they transported goods from port to port.

Among the highlights presented in the exhibition are exotic Kunstkammer objects collected by the Habsburgs, the Medici and other princely families, assembled from collections throughout Europe; rare 16th-century world maps by Portuguese and Florentine cartographers; exquisite ivory hunting horns and saltcellars carved in West and Central Africa for trade with the Portuguese; rare terracotta statues and other religious works from 17th-century Brazil; Indian mother-of-pearl vessels that were given precious silver-gilt mounts when they arrived in Europe in the 16th century; and scientific instruments created for the Imperial Chinese court by early Jesuit missionaries.

The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga - popularly known as the National Museum of Ancient Art - is located in Lisbon and is known for its own collection which includes painting, sculpture, metalwork, textiles, furniture, drawings, and other decorative art forms from the Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century.

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