Taino Sitting Folded Legs Cemi

SKU: TNSCEMI341

$ 775.00 $650.00

Impresive semi in black/green stone. Features a Taino figure in a sitting position,  kneeling on the floor, with its legs folded underneath its thighs, while resting the buttocks on the heels. The figures hands rest on top of the knees.

Cemis like this one adorned the areas where special rituals and ceremonies took place. A Cemi is a sculpture inhabited by a god, deity or ancestral spirit of the Taino people and used by the shamans to commute with the spirit for guidance. Cemi is also the term used to refer to the deity or ancestral spirit itself.

It features a human figure with linear decorations on hands, shoulders, crown, and glutes, as well as circular desings on the spine. It features traditional grainy eyes and mouth. The figure also features a small penis and testicles protrudring about a half an inch.

This piece comes from a Taino antique collector in Puerto Rico.