This remarkable sculpture of a zemi figure is
carved from a pale green/brown stone. A zemi
was the physical manifestation of a Taino god,
spirit or ancestor. As chieftains and important
shamans were deified after death it may even
represent a high status member of the Taino
community. The arrangement of the figure’s
limbs is extraordinary and is an elaboration of
the ritual squatting position that zemis assume
in surviving stone amulets. In this case the legs
are held up vertically with the feet resting just
under the chin. The hands hold the legs in
position, clutching them at approximately knee-
level. Both the face and the body are skeletal in
appearance with prominent hollow joints. The
wide eye-sockets and gaping jaw are deeply
carved and both the forehead and the chin
project outwards at a sharp angle. The
emanciated look continues on the reverse, which
is flat rather than carved in the round. Both the
ribs and the spine are indicated, set between
elaborate geometric motifs which may indicate
the presence of tattoos. The figure rests on a
pedestal that also features a band of complex
abstract design.
To western sensibilities there is an obvious
contradiction between the figure’s skeletal form,
suggestive of death and decay, and the fleshy,
erect phallus just above the pedestal. The latter
is clearly a symbol of potency and fertility that
seems oddly juxtaposed with bodily indicators of
old age. However it was not unusual in the New
World to combine such iconography. Parallels
have been drawn with the pottery vessels from
the ancient Moche civilization of Peru, which
depict well-built women in the company of
skeletal males with erect phalluses. As Peter Roe
has argued, ‘In the New World, the iconography
of mortality was linked to images of fecundity.’
A carving of this complexity and size must have
belonged to a chieftain or member of his retinue.
Although the Taino left no written records, the
Spanish settlers did record native practices
(though they did not necessarily understand their
significance). One eye-witness refers to special
structures or temples in which the chieftains
stored their zemi carvings. The Taino believed in
the existence of an afterlife and the ability of
shamans to communicate with the dead. This
sculpture may well have been a prop in such a
ceremony, or a focus for ancestor worship. This
is a remarkably evocative work that allows us to
glimpse some of the splendours of Taino
civilization. (AM)
