Taino Stone Hacha Axe Head Stylized Frog Form

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Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 28, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-10-28 12:00:00 2021-10-28 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fauna-flora-stone-bones---fall-edition-7768
Join us for a very special early Fall auction featuring fabulous fossils, rocks, and minerals, plus art depicting flora and fauna from antiquity to present day. This is one sale you won't want to miss! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Taino, ca. 15th century CE. A ceremonial stone axe, in a flattened ovoid shape, with each side carved in a low relief form of a stylized frog viewed from above. This probably is modeled on a coqui frog, which is native to the region and probably symbolized the coming of rain and the wet season. The black stone is pecked and carefully shaped with the frog's limbs creating interlocking shapes that are nearly symmetrical. Size: 8.35" L x 0.75" W x 6.25" H (21.2 cm x 1.9 cm x 15.9 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; ex-Essex collection
  
  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.
  
  PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
  
  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #167674

  Condition

  Chips to peripheries, otherwise intact and excellent. Scattered mineral and earthen deposits.
• Shipping Info

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