Page 579 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

418

SNUFF INHALER forked tubes being used for the purpose. This
unique example has been exquisitely sculpted
Tamo
bone from a single piece of bone to represent a human
3
8.6 (3 / 8) figure. The walls of the tubes form its legs and are
very thin, as can be seen in a fracture on its left
Collection of Fundacion Garcia Arevalo, Inc., side. The legs frame the features of the face,
giving the appearance of a delicate cameo. The
Tamo worshipers used tubes made of wood or figure portrays Maquetaurie Guayaba, the Tamo
bone to inhale cohoba powder, often sniffing it lord of the underworld, who has also been identi-
from platforms on the tops of figures of zemis fied in a number of other ritual objects (Arrom
(cats. 409-410). The conquistadors observed plain 1989,112-113). I.R. and J.J.A.

419

ANTHROPOMORPHIC PESTLE

Tamo
stone
24 ( 9%)

Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo

A figure of a zemi is carved on this conical stone
pestle from the Dominican Republic. As early as
7
the first millennium B.C., the Tamos predecessors
used plain conical pestles to grind wild vegetable
foods. The practice of decorating them began in
the Tamo heartland during the Chican period,
between A.D. 1200 and 1500. I.R. and J.J.A.

578 CIRCA 1492