Taíno Arts: Figurative Wooden Works in the British Museum

Ritual Seat | *Duho*
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Taíno Arts

Figurative Wooden Works in the British Museum

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

On occasion, Art of the Ancestors has referenced four traditions whose renderings of human-like figures can be particularly muscular and visually pleasing. Their physicality, or compressed torque, seemingly spans the world of the living and the dead, the mundane and the supernatural, and stands at the confluence where attributes of humans can fluidly combine with those of powerful totemic animals. In this manner, the best examples of carving from the Fang of Gabon, Hawaiian figures, those of the Modang/Wehea, Bahau Sa'a of Borneo, and the Taíno, when crafted by adepts, have left for posterity some time-bending and deeply significant figurative works of art.

In our June newsletter, we featured the art of the Taíno and the Kalinago, two main groups that inhabited the Caribbean before Columbus arrived in 1492, from an exhibition on view at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in Paris. The Taíno mainly lived in the north and western islands of the Caribbean, while Kalinago dominated in the south. Despite their virtual disappearance in the 16th century — they were decimated within a decade by disease, slavery, and forced labor — many of today's Caribbean peoples consider themselves to be their descendants in a still unfolding denouement with the past.

Centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, the Taíno had developed hierarchical and complex religious, political, and social systems. In his First Letter to the Spanish Monarchs, penned prior to March 1493, Columbus wrote of the Taino that they "are of acute intelligence and they are men who navigate all those seas so that it is amazing what good account they can give of everything." Taíno canoes reportedly could accommodate up to one hundred passengers.

Their artisans were also highly skilled, and they created powerfully expressive objects. Whether crafted from clay or carved from wood, cut or polished stone, made of basketry or finely worked shell, the pre and early post-contact peoples of the Caribbean, especially the Taíno, were at their best masters of each of these diverse mediums. This month, in honor of those ancient Caribbean peoples and their little-known traditions, we are illustrating eight items carved from wood being stewarded by the British Museum. The British Museum lists over 6,000 items under the heading "Taíno," of which only eight are carved from wood. These are roughly divided between zemis (figures) and chief's stools, duho. The word Zemis in Taíno also refers to the spiritual or vital force that seamlessly binds the deities, ancestors, and the living to one another.

As mentioned, the Taíno were ruled by an entrenched aristocracy. Their caciques (chiefs) could be either female or male. This ruling class included ritual specialists and healers who augured, entered, interpreted, and navigated their spirit world. Their pantheon of gods centers around two main polar deities, Yúcahu, the Lord of cassava and master of the sea, and Attabeira, his mother and the goddess of fresh water and human fertility. Yúcahu and Attabeira also reflect a philosophy of the duality of existence, a theme that is reflected in Taíno's creations. Along with a host of other lesser gods and spirits, the deities were propitiated and channeled through the zemis.

Authentic Taíno wooden items are sheer miracles of survival. Much of the material purportedly from this region without well-documented provenances or historical context often turns out to be modern creations, which, while well-done, are easy to distinguish once one understands the genuine article. The Taíno, for example, carefully smoothed and polished the grain of diverse Caribbean hardwoods, particularly Guayacan (Guaiacum officinale), an extremely hard and dense tropical wood (one that sinks and cannot float) and whose surface can become quite lustrously dark and glossy in human hands. Early European visitors were evidently quite impressed as they called this particular wood 'lignum vitae' or the 'wood of life.' "Its resin was used to treat a wide range of ailments, from sore throats to syphilis, and when combined with alcohol, turns blood blue." The deeply rich surfaces or natural wear patterns particular to this wood are unmistakable and difficult to forge. Forgeries tend to look as if they are artificially polished, uniformly weathered, or baked. While some zemis and duhos were interred with very important caciques, others, when not being used, were kept in the Cacique's dwelling. The zemis and duhos illustrated here were wrapped and carefully deposited in specially chosen caves that protected them from the elements, humidity, Spanish incursions, and local conflicts.

The British Museum preserves five wooden zemis. Each is of a unique form with a distinctive presence. Two are in an avian guise, and three are human-like depictions of deities. Of particular note are three extraordinary pieces that were recovered from a cave in Jamaica in 1792, according to the museum's notes. 'The bird-man,' like much of the best Taíno wood carving, combines intense aggressiveness and comely artfulness. With its outstretched arms and lowered beak, this zemi conveys a sense of flight, receptivity, and connectedness that complements its inflated chest and bulging muscles. Note the remaining lone incised bone plaque. The eyes and teeth of many carvings were once finely inlaid with shell, bone, and, on rare occasions, hammered gold.

The second item from this triad stands at just under 41 inches (104 cm) tall. It is a forceful statue jilting to one side while simultaneously exposing its genitalia. The literature describes such effigies with triangulated markings under their eyes as "crying figures" and as zemí that are identified with Boinayel, the Rain Giver. His tears are said to have been the source of rain. His twin brother, and competitive counterpart, Marohu, was the god of sunny weather and clearing skies. Though brothers, their two diverging characters were in constant flux and in conflict with one another. The Taíno would mediate and beseech the brothers to work together in harmony in order to ensure a bounteous harvest.

Many surviving wooden zemis are topped with a 'canopy' or roundel that mimics a platter or bowl. This flat surface was sacramentally used by ritual specialists and cacique for cohoba (Anadenanthera peregrina), a powerful hallucinogenic drug. Ground from the plant's charred seeds into a powder or paste, cohoba was snorted from the tops of these carved stands with snuff tubes. The platforms were, in turn, often supported by human figures, either squatting or hunkered. They stare back at us with pronounced trance-like expressions. These can range from grimacing contorted faces with pursed mouths to calm, even beatific forward-looking faces. The zemis' range of facial expressions may also indicate the participant's hallucinogenic 'transitioning' from one state or world to another. Their bodies are also transformative vehicles as they combine attributes of muscularity and emaciation. The latter attribute is suggested by exposed vertebrae, exaggerated escapulated shoulders, and sunken eyes that may also reflect the rigors of fasting and preparation for ceremonially ingesting cohoba and experiencing the spirit world in a heightened state.

Besides iconic reliquaries and cohoba stands, perhaps the most important Taíno items of prestige in wood were their duhos — seats of authority, seats of vision — that could only be owned by a cacique. While an essential emblem of status and political power, duho also encapsulates the worldview of the Taíno. As a living crest, or portable axis Mundi, a duho's bold anthropomorphic creature was itself a portal that connected and announced its owner's chiefly presence to the spirit world. As befitting an important emissary, when Columbus met with Taíno chiefs in 1492, he was honored by being offered a duho to sit on.

"They had the custom of convening meetings to determine arduous things, such as mobilizing for war and other things that they thought important for performing their cohoba ceremony. The first to start was the Lord, and while he was doing it, the rest remained quiet and were absorbed while seated on low and well-carved benches called duhos. Having done his cohoba, which is inhaling through the nostrils those powders, he remained for a while with his head turned sideward, and with his arms resting on his knees. He would give them an account of his vision, telling them that the zemi spoke to him and certified the good or adverse times to come, or that they would have children or that they would die, or that they would have conflict or war with their neighbors." (Bartolomeo de las Casas, History of the Indies, the island of Hispaniola, 1502)

The British Museum conserves three impressive duhos. The first is a diving figure with legs akimbo, kicking in locomotion. Its arms are flexed, stationary, and gripping something in its hands. The second duho is a slightly elongated squircle of a standard form that has a fine anthropomorphic head. Still, the tiger grain of the wood is particularly fetching. However, it is the third duho, formerly in the famous William Oldman collection (and sold by his widow in 1949 to the British Museum), that garners the most attention. It is arguably one of the finest duho extant and an iconic masterwork of Taíno art. Everything about this duho is superior, from the highly polished and patinated Guayacan wood, the arching fullness of the mythological creature's curved tail and engaged genitalia, its backside on which the cacique sat, its rounded weight-bearing shoulders and perfectly balanced face. There is fine geometric detailing on this duho as well. Still, it is the drama created by its shape, finish, mouth, and eyes that are inlaid with beaten gold that would have projected the status of its owner for all to see as cohoba sniffing rituals were held in public and witnessed by a wide array of onlookers.

Contact with the Taíno rocked the European world as news of Columbus' discovery reached the Continent. Columbus initially brought back ten captive Taíno with him. Six survived the journey. One adolescent, renamed Diego Colon, became the explorer's adopted son and interpreter on his two subsequent voyages to the New World. Oddly, there is no better way to end this introduction than by mentioning a fresco that was finished in 1494, The Resurrection of Christ, that decorated the apartment of the "Borgia Pope," Alexander VI. Among the throng in this expansive work are five or six naked dancing Taino. It was this first contact that created the excitement, rationale, and opportunity for the Catholic church to "harvest souls' among such newly discovered peoples. The Papal Bull of 1493 (Inter caetera) divided the world up into spheres of influence for Spain and Portugal in order to reclaim the "pagan" world for the dominion of Christianity. Though extinct, influences from the Taíno survive both in aspects of modern Caribbean culture and to varying degrees in some islander's mtDNA. The Taíno may be gone, but they supplied English (via Spanish) with an amazing lexicon that included words such as tobacco, mangrove, hurricane, barbecue, and canoe. Like the lasting impact of these words, one never tires of this artwork. The Taíno arts illustrated here are full of pleasing surprises and remain poignant by any standard.

— Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors