Taino Ceremonial Axe w/ Shaman Figure (900-1500 AD)

The most numerous category of polished stone sculpture emerging from the Taíno world of the ancestral Caribbean islands are ceremonial axes and blades, which take many forms and were an important medium of exchange. Ceremonial blades made of different types of greenstone, both local and imported, have been recovered in large numbers. These axes, known as petaloid celts for their resemblance to flower petals, served as dedicatory offerings, which have a long history in the Caribbean, and on the mainland in Mesoamerica.

~This carved stone example depicts a Behique (Shaman) in a trace state. In New World tropical environments, death and rebirth are seen to be closely related and in a process of constant cycling. As such, the dead and living worlds are both always proximal- it is the Behique's special skill and responsibility to mediate these two realms. This dual nature of the Behique's situation is symbolically expressed in much Taino art through the collusion of fecund and skeletal motifs. The figure's gaping, empty eye sockets, the grimacing mouth, and the impossibly contorted pose also symbolically mark his heightened state of consciousness, between the otherworld of ancestor and deity spirits and the physical realm of his clients.

~excerpts from Walters Art Museum literature

- Caribbean
- 900-1500 AD
- H: 7 3/4 in. BR/>- From a Private New York Collection
- Stone

Each item will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Amazing!