VOMITIVE SPATULA with the effigy of the deity Zemi - Lot 33

Lot n° 33
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Estimation :
1500 - 3500 EUR
VOMITIVE SPATULA with the effigy of the deity Zemi - Lot 33
VOMITIVE SPATULA with the effigy of the deity Zemi The curved spatula, is in the original shape of an animal rib. The rounded tip was used to induce vomiting in order to purify the shaman's body before proceeding with the cohoba ritual. The handle is decorated with a figure of Zemi, a skeletal-looking male deity whose joints, vertebrae and orbits are visible. Represented in a squatting position, with his hands resting on his knees, this entity is to be related to the notions of life and death which are part of a cyclical vision of the universe. A band of geometric motifs consisting of two triangles with concentric circles is engraved under his feet. This motif with symbolic connotations is recurrent in the representations of the divinity Zemi. The circle would symbolize the fertile womb of the woman, while the lower triangle would be, according to Taino mythology, the beak of the bird Heron, which made the "frog woman" human. Another hypothesis, suggests that the triangle would be an image of the vagina in relation to the upper one, which would represent the solar plexus. Each of these interpretations, however, reinforces the idea of life-death duality, male-female, which are inseparable from the idea of fertility and the cycle of the universe. Bone with brown patina. Taino Culture, Dominican Republic, 800 - 1500 A.D.-C. H. 20,5 - l. 2 - Ep. 3,5 cm Provenance: Private collection since the 50-60s, France.
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