Lot 52

Pre-Columbian Taino Carved Speleothem Zemi - Conical Cemi Idol

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Lot 52
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Pre-Columbian Taino Carved Speleothem Zemi - Conical Cemi Idol
Pre-Columbian Taino Carved Speleothem Zemi - Conical Cemi Idol
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Pre-Columbian Taino Carved Speleothem Zemi - Conical Cemi Idol

Estimate: $1,400 - $2,000
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, Caribbean, Taino, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A tapering conical zemi worked from a pale calcite speleothem, its surface drawn from the slow drip of cave waters and then disciplined by the hand of a Taino carver. The shaft rises to a smooth, pointed apex while the lower body is articulated by softly swelling registers, ringed grooves, and an emphatic banded collar at the midpoint that suggests bound cordage or perhaps the compressed limbs of an ancestral figure folded into abstract form. Iron-rich mineral blooms speckle the cream-white stone, a residue of its subterranean origin in the limestone caves of the Greater Antilles. Speleothems, drawn from the dark interiors of caverns understood as portals between the world of the living and that of Coaybay, the realm of the dead, were considered charged with the breath of the ancestors. Carved into trigonal or conical zemis, such pieces embodied tutelary spirits and were installed in shrines, kept by caciques and behiques, or buried in conucos to ensure the fertility of yuca and the favor of the rains. The tapered form here aligns with the canonical three-pointed cemi tradition stretched vertically, its iconography distilled to ribbed bands and an implied figural compression. A custom wooden plinth supports the work for display. Size: 1.9" D x 10.5" H (4.8 cm D x 26.7 cm H); on custom display stand: 14" H (35.6 cm H).

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

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Item # 203217

  • Condition: Good. Tip has been reattached with break line just barely visible. Weathering with some pitting and abrasions to surface, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, nice presentation with liberal remaining detail.

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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