Pre-Columbian, Dominican Republic, Taino or Ciboney peoples, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A beautiful ceremonial hand axe known as a celt, hand-carved from a mottled pistachio-hued stone with light beige and dark inclusions. The petaloid axe has a slender handle end with a conical tip, a wide body with convex faces and acutely-angled sides, and a wide, curved blade edge. This blade would have been hafted onto a wooden handle of a ceremonial hatchet called a "manaya," though there are only limited examples where the handle and blade are carved from a singular contiguous piece of stone. The Yoruba African people that the Spanish brought as slaves to the Caribbean found these stones in fields and linked them to the Yoruba deity Shango (sometimes Chango) because of their thunderbolt shape. Custom museum-quality display stand included. Size: 3.375" W x 7.125" H (8.6 cm x 18.1 cm); 8.2" H (20.8 cm) on included custom stand.
For a stylistically-similar example of a pale-brown color, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1994.35.421: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/317170
Provenance: private Los Angeles County, California, USA collection
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#138657
Condition
Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, small losses to butt end, minor nicks to blade edge, body, and butt end, with light roughness along edge and butt end. Light earthen deposits throughout. Old inventory label on verso.