Taino Black Stone Duho / Ceremonial Stool

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Exceptional Antiquities, Ethnographic and Fin...

By Artemis Gallery

Jun 29, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-06-29 10:00:00 2023-06-29 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Ethnographic and Fine Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-ethnographic-and-fine-art-13031
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Caribbean area, perhaps Dominican Republic, Taino (Arawak) Indians, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. What a find! A magnificent marble ceremonial stool known as a duho, impressively hand-carved in the form of an otherworldly creature and incised with elaborate, geometric motifs. Rarely carved from stone like this example, duhos were magical seats believed to take their owners travelling between worlds and grant them the power of prophecy! The anthropomorphic zoomorph stands upon 4 short yet sturdy legs, each with delineated toes, and displays male genitalia on its underside. He dramatically projects his head forward, stretching open his enormous mouth as though letting out a sonorous screech. His stylized visage is indicative of hallucinogenic intoxication exhibiting huge, sunken eyes, flared nostrils, and long ears adorned with earspools. The elongated, flattened body is slightly recessed on the top to serve as the seat with intricate, scrolling motifs adorning the top of the head and peripheries and the stylized head of a feline on the back. Size: 15.8" L x 8.7" W x 4" H (40.1 cm x 22.1 cm x 10.2 cm)
  
  According to the A History of the World in 100 Objects website, a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum: "The Taino people believed that they lived in parallel with an invisible world of ancestors and gods, from whom their leaders could seek knowledge of the future. A duho would be owned only by the most important members of a community, and it was the vital means of getting through to the realm of the spirits. It was in one sense a throne, but it was also a portal, and a vehicle to the supernatural world….This is a seat for a leader, for the chief of a village or a region. Taino leaders were both male and female, and the duho embodied their social, political and religious power, and it was crucial to the functioning of their society. We know that in at least one instance a leader was buried sitting on his duho."
  
  Cf. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, accession number 001534, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, catalog number 23/6092, and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, object number 16-24-30/C7504.
  
  Provenance: private Florida, USA collection; ex-Mr. Pierre Fayet collection, France; ex-Mr. Philippe Bringuier collection, France
  
  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.
  
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  #179875

  Condition

  Professional repair to small chip in lower back left corner of seat with break lines visible. Some minor chipping to peripheries and a few light nicks and abrasions throughout, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, mostly intact and excellent with impressive preservation of incised decoration and detail. Light earthen deposits in recessed areas.
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