Pre-Columbian, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Taino, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. This is one of the most interesting zemis we have seen due to its material which is symbolically significant in Taino culture - this zemi is carved from a conical piece of speleothem from a cave (e.g. a stalactite or stalagmite)! The linear markings create an abstract visage – perhaps a humanoid deity or ancestor. Caves played a role in Taino cosmology: the sun and moon arise from a cave, spirits of the dead transformed into bats which live in caves, and the first Taino people emerged from Cacibajagua cave. Caves were the axis mundi or portal between the earth and the watery underworld known as Coaybay, their chambers serving as places of burial, ancestor worship, depositories for art and artifacts, and refuges from danger. This is a spectacular and extraordinary piece of Taino artistry that may have guarded the entrance to their sacred caverns and the use of the cave stone itself imbued a potency to this idol! Size: 4" diameter x 12" H (10.2 cm x 30.5 cm)

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."

Speleothem is the general name for the tapering mounds on the ceilings and floors of caves, respectively known as stalactite or stalagmites, which are formed from calcium deposited via water dripping from the ceiling. These formations take thousands, sometimes millions of years to form- at an approximate rate of 0.00028 to 0.0366 inches per year (0.0007 to 0.929 mm/ year)! The natural chemical composition and shapes of these stones are fascinating and awe inspiring on their own, but with carvings of stylized ancestor zemis or deities etched into them, the cave must have been truly magical place for the Taino to hold ceremonies. This is an exceedingly rare piece of Taino artistry and for an interesting read on Taino cave art and speleothems, we recommend reading the paper "A Niche in Time: JD-5, Caribbean Cave Art, and the Fourth Dimension," by Reinaldo Morales Jr. and Melisa A. Quesenberry "American Indian Rock Art", 31 (2005): 34-56.

Provenance: Private J. Hart Collection, Houston, Texas, USA, acquired mid-1970's; ex-MONAH, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA, 2016-2019; ex-R. Harrison collection; ex-Wilfred Belmar collection, collected in the Dominican Republic, 1930s

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#174535

Natural surface pitting and old losses and chips. Some abrasions throughout and loss to tip. Overall excellent and rare!