Lot 54

Taino Carved Stone Petaloid Ceremonial Axe

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Lot 54
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Taino Carved Stone Petaloid Ceremonial Axe
Taino Carved Stone Petaloid Ceremonial Axe
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Taino Carved Stone Petaloid Ceremonial Axe

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT (In Progress)
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Pre-Columbian, Caribbean, Taino, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A monumental ceremonial axe of dense gray-green stone, ground and polished into the elongated petaloid silhouette favored by Taino lapidaries of the Greater Antilles. The blade narrows to a rounded cutting edge at one end and rises into a flaring, eared poll at the other, giving the implement its distinctive winged or anthropomorphic profile. Across its surface the patina has settled into a mottled, mineral skin, the labor of centuries softening every contour into satin.

Carved without the aid of metal tools, such axes were produced by pecking and abrading harder stones, often basalts, andesites, or metamorphic greenstones, against abrasives of sand and water, a process measured in months rather than days. Their scale and refinement removed them from the realm of utilitarian woodworking and placed them among the prestige objects of caciques and behiques, the chiefs and shaman-priests who mediated between the visible world and the realm of the cemi spirits. Larger petaloid celts of this kind likely served as emblems of authority, as offerings interred in ceremonial precincts, or as components of composite ritual ensembles bound to wooden hafts and displayed during areito gatherings.

The silhouette here, with its shouldered upper register and tapering body, recalls the heart-shaped or "winged" variants documented from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, where Taino sculptors transformed the simple celt into a vehicle for cosmological geometry. Mounted on a custom stand, the piece reads equally as tool, talisman, and abstract sculpture. Size: 5.9" W x 11.2" H (15.0 cm W x 28.4 cm H); on included custom stand: 14" H (35.6 cm H).

Provenance: ex-private collection, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, USA, collected from 2010 to 2015

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Item # 203216

  • Condition: Good. Chipping to edges, as well as pitting and nicks to surface as shown, all commensurate with age. Scattered earthen deposits throughout.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000