**Originally Listed At $600**

Pre-Columbian, Caribbean, perhaps Dominican Republic, Taino (Arawak) / Macorix culture, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A hand-carved stone head of highly stylized head of a zemi- a representation of a god or ancestor - the sculpture houses their spirit. The flattened topknot is suggestive of Macorix heads, from the eastern part of Hispaniola, the Macorix coexisted with the Tainos. The expressive countenance includes protruding eyes, sunken cheeks, a rounded nose with delineated nostrils, and a broad mouth. Owners of zemi figures have traditionally honored them with offerings of food or precious gifts. Each Zemi had its own identity and name, personality, distinct characteristics, and powers. Size: 3.5" L x 2.3" W x 7" H (8.9 cm x 5.8 cm x 17.8 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."

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

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#176872

Stable hairline fissures on face and minor surface nicks. Otherwise intact and excellent. Old inventory label on verso.