Lot 58A

Taino Stone Mortar & Pestle - Carved Effigy Pestle, Caribbean

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Lot 58
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Taino Stone Mortar & Pestle - Carved Effigy Pestle, Caribbean
Taino Stone Mortar & Pestle - Carved Effigy Pestle, Caribbean
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Taino Stone Mortar & Pestle - Carved Effigy Pestle, Caribbean

Estimate: $700 - $1,000
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, Dominican Republic, Taino, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A rounded grinding mortar of dense gray stone, its swelling rim worn smooth by handling and use, cradles a companion pestle of warmer sandy tone. The pestle's upper terminal has been shaped into an abbreviated effigy head, brows and eyes summarized in low relief, the features softened by long abrasion. Such paired tools served the daily and ritual preparation of pigments, seeds, and medicinal or hallucinogenic substances among the island peoples of the Greater Antilles. The carving of a face upon an otherwise utilitarian implement suggests the object straddled domestic labor and ceremonial use, perhaps tied to the grinding of cohoba snuff. The contrast of cool basaltic bowl against the granular pestle lends the pair a quiet sculptural presence. Size of larger (mortar): 6.8" W x 2.5" H x 5.7" D (17.3 cm W x 6.3 cm H x 14.5 cm D).

The Taino, the dominant culture of the Greater Antilles at the time of European contact, invested everyday tools with cosmological meaning. Grinding implements were essential to the preparation of cohoba, a powdered snuff derived from Anadenanthera seeds and inhaled during shamanic and chiefly ceremonies to commune with the zemis, ancestral and nature spirits. The effigy face worked into this pestle echoes the broader Taino practice of animating ritual objects, from carved cohoba inhalers to stone collars and three-pointer zemis, with anthropomorphic or zoomorphic presence.

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

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Item # 198477

  • Condition: Good. Area of loss to rim of mortar. Light surface wear to both. Otherwise, pestle is intact and both present nicely with smooth surfaces.

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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