Pre-Columbian Native American Objects

Hispaniola, Arawak peoples, Taino native Indians This is a fine hand carved jade ancestor sculpture fashioned as a pendant from the Arawak Peoples of the Greater Antilles Islands, Dominican Republic. It is a good example and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity as photographed. Taino jades are extremely uncommon due to lack of local island jade cobble resources. Jade was likely traded into this country hundreds of years ago and this work of art is just one of a small collection found in a cave in La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic in 1958. Taino Jade Anthropic Pendant of a female figure, 20th century or earlier Dimensions: 3.1 inches high, 8 cm Sometimes described as a jade -cemi- this work of art belongs to a broader category of Taino art also called -zemis-. This term refers to the physical incarnation of a Taino god, spirit or ancestor. This figure may represent a Taino in trance and a similar might have adorned Cohoba ceremonies where hallucinogenic substances like cohoba were consumed to induce trances to communicate with the gods. While the precise function of such objects remain somewhat a mystery- they continue to impress us with their bold abstract form and magical associations. This remarkable sculpture figure is carved in a medium green jade with brown inclusions. This example has a large triangular carved head, slanted eyes, hands to its sides prominent nasal, open mouth, and pointed base. As chieftains and important shamans were deified after death this sculpture may represent a cacique chief or high status member of Taino Community. The arrangement of the figure’s limbs is an elaboration of the ritual squatting position that zemis assume in surviving stone amulets. In this case the legs are held up vertically with the feet resting under the waist. Both the face and in particular, the back of the body, are skeletal in appearance with prominent hollow joints. The wide eye-sockets and gaping jaw are deeply carved and both the forehead and the chin project outwards at a sharp angle. The emaciated look on the reverse, is carved in the half round. Both the ribs and the spine are indicated, set between elaborate geometric motifs which may indicate the presence of tattoos. The figure appears to rests on a simply carved pedestal. To western sensibilities there is an obvious contradiction between the figure’s reverse skeletal form, suggestive of mortality. Although Taino left no written documents, Spanish settlers did record native practices and one account refers to special structures in which chieftains stored their Trove of zemi carvings. The Taino believed in existence of afterlife and Shamanic ability to communicate with the dead. This sculpture may well have been present and on display in such a ceremony or perhaps a focus of ancestor worship. Hand carved and scarce work of art from America's Caribbean islands. Provenance: 1958 find, La Altagracia Provonce, Dominican Republic. A "Certificate of Authenticity" accompanies Taino History: The Taino flourished from 1200-1500. When Columbus arrived in America, the first people he encountered were the Taino People- inhabitants of the islands of the northern Caribbean Sea, known as Hispaniola. They were Arawakan-speaking people who at the time of Christopher Columbus’s exploration inhabited Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Once the most numerous indigenous people of the Caribbean, the Taino may have numbered several million at the time of the Spanish conquest in the late 15th century. Their highly developed belief system focused on zemi ancestor or god worship. A zemi was the physical manifestation of a god, spirit or ancestor. The chieftain -caciques- encouraged ancestor worship and were often deified after death. The religious leaders or shamans were thought to be able to communicate with the souls of the dead when intoxicated by the hallucinogenic cohoba. A preoccupation with death is evident in many Taino art-forms and partly explains the prevalence of zoomorphic images. Bats, owls and frogs were all popular motifs and were regarded as harbingers of life after death. The Taino believed that the dead could be reborn in animal form and some believe animals were their earliest ancestors in Taino creation myth. Hence we find their zoomorphic sculptures as combinations of human and animal forms particularly provocative and great conversational art...

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Pre-Columbian, Hispaniola, Arawak Peoples, Taino Native Indians, early 20th century or older This is an ancestor sculpture from the Arawak Peoples of the Greater Antilles Islands. Sometimes described to a broader category of Taino art...

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