Unidentified artist
Manioc Flour Bowl (Farinheira)mid-18th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Large gilded metal bowl with hemispherical form, densely covered in repoussé decoration including shell motifs, scrolling acanthus, rosettes, and vertical ribbing

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
Title: Manioc Flour Bowl (Farinheira)
Place Made: Brazil, possibly Bahía
Date Made: mid-18th century
Medium: Hammered, repoussé, engraved, chased, and stamped gold
Dimensions: Height: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm); diameter: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Marjorie W. Gilbert 2001 Trust
Accession Number: M.2025.194.2
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This type of bowl, known as a farinheira, was designed to hold farinha de mandioca (manioc, or cassava, flour), which was consumed by all levels of Brazilian society. Farinheiras wrought in gold began to be produced in the eighteenth century, after the discovery of several mines in the region; previously, the flour was kept in clay bowls and coconut cups. Elegantly ornamented with embossed and engraved vegetal and geometric motifs, this refined bowl was likely created in Bahia by an accomplished master silversmith.

Brazil became the main supplier of gold across Europe until the second half of the eighteenth century, when the output from Brazilian gold mines declined. The use of gold for ordinary utensils such as this bowl exemplifies the European fascination with the precious metal since the time of El Dorado—the mythical land of gold that the conquistadors imagined they had encountered in the Americas.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Private collection, São Paulo; Christie’s, New York, November 17, 1994, lot 70 (bought in); art market, London; Christie’s, New York, April 20, 2001, lot 211; Sir Arthur Gilbert (through S. J. Phillips, London), Los Angeles, 2001; Marjorie W. Gilbert 2001 Trust, Los Angeles, June 7, 2001; promised gift to LACMA, July 21, 2011.
Selected Bibliography: Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
Selected Exhibition History: Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

Unidentified artist
Manioc Flour Bowl (Farinheira)mid-18th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
Title: Manioc Flour Bowl (Farinheira)
Place Made: Brazil, possibly Bahía
Date Made: mid-18th century
Medium: Hammered, repoussé, engraved, chased, and stamped gold
Dimensions: Height: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm); diameter: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Marjorie W. Gilbert 2001 Trust
Accession Number: M.2025.194.2
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This type of bowl, known as a farinheira, was designed to hold farinha de mandioca (manioc, or cassava, flour), which was consumed by all levels of Brazilian society. Farinheiras wrought in gold began to be produced in the eighteenth century, after the discovery of several mines in the region; previously, the flour was kept in clay bowls and coconut cups. Elegantly ornamented with embossed and engraved vegetal and geometric motifs, this refined bowl was likely created in Bahia by an accomplished master silversmith.

Brazil became the main supplier of gold across Europe until the second half of the eighteenth century, when the output from Brazilian gold mines declined. The use of gold for ordinary utensils such as this bowl exemplifies the European fascination with the precious metal since the time of El Dorado—the mythical land of gold that the conquistadors imagined they had encountered in the Americas.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Private collection, São Paulo; Christie’s, New York, November 17, 1994, lot 70 (bought in); art market, London; Christie’s, New York, April 20, 2001, lot 211; Sir Arthur Gilbert (through S. J. Phillips, London), Los Angeles, 2001; Marjorie W. Gilbert 2001 Trust, Los Angeles, June 7, 2001; promised gift to LACMA, July 21, 2011.
Selected Bibliography: Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
Selected Exhibition History: Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024