Taino Stone Figural Zemi Pestle, Transformative Figure

Ca. 1000–1500 CE. Pre-Columbian, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Taino (Arawak) peoples, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A superb stone pestle in the form of an effigy figure known as a zemi, the gaunt man wrapping his legs around the pounder, his neck forming a finger grip. The stylized body has arms raised to the sides of the head, and emphasis is placed upon the skeletal appearance- spine protruding and sunken eye sockets. It is possible that this pestle was used to create Cohoba powder that is traditionally inhaled by a shaman to produce hallucinogenic effects and visions during a ritual that the Taino interpret as apparitions of spirits who deliver important messages. This pestle seems to show someone in the act of ingesting something magical or undergoing a transformation, perhaps crossing the line between life and death / spirit world. Size: 4" Diameter x 8.5" H (10.2 cm x 21.6 cm) Size: 8.5" H x 4" Diam (21.6 cm H x 10.2 cm Diam).

Taino spirituality revolved around ancestor and spirit worship via carved stone figures called "zemis" that embodied the spirits and deity figures the Taino venerated. In Taino culture death was considered a transitory period; the boundaries between life and death seem to have felt more porous to the Taino than they do to us today.

This piece was from a pre-1970 Taino collection, and many of the pieces in the collection were on public display at the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville Arkansas from November 2016 to March 2019. Most of the artifacts came from Wilfred Belmar; born in the Dominican Republic, he began finding and collecting artefacts as a child through the 1930s and 1940s. This collection has been vetted by Dr. William F. Keegan, chairman and curator of the Anthropology Department of Natural History at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Associate Director for Research and Collections, professor of Anthropology and Curator of Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, and author of "Talking Taino" published 2008 and "The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology" published in 2013. In 2015 he studied this collection and was quite impressed with the quality of the pieces. The pieces were also studied by Dr. John F. Scott, Professor Emeritus, Professor of Art History at the University of Florida and publisher of the textbooks: "Latin American Art: Ancient and Modern," "The Art of the Taino of the Dominican Republic" in 1985, and the 1970 Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog "Before Cortes."

Provenance: private J. Hart Collection, Houston, Texas, USA, acquired mid-1970's

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Item #176871

Condition
Minor chips and nicks throughout. Intact without repairs and overall excellent condition.