Page 580 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

with twenty-four incised teeth is solidly attached.
The eye orbits and the large ears of the idol show
traces of resin or vegetable glue; small discs of
shell, mother-of-pearl, tortoise, or even gold
plates may have been attached at one time.
The bent knees of the figure are common
among Tamo zemis. The cotton bands that the
Tamo used to decorate their arms and legs are
here represented by two deep symmetrical cuts
in the lower limbs.
Giglioli (1910) reported that this plate, like the
Tamo necklace (cat. 422), reached Florence from
Santo Domingo between the end of the seven-
teenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries,
suggesting that it would have been exhibited in
the Medici collections. However, Ciruzzi (1983)
did not find it listed in the inventories of objects
belonging to the Medici. It is first found regis-
tered and described in the catalogues of 1820
and 1843 of the Regio Museo and the Museo
Antropologico. D.Z.
420

STONE BELT

Tamo
black stone
7
5
47.3 X 3O.2 (l8 /8 X H /8)
references: Fewkes 1907; Ekholm 1961; Alegria 1982 The present example, which was found in Juana
Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the Diaz, Puerto Rico, is one of the finest examples
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras of the slender type. It has a beautifully decorated
boss and side panels incised with an all-over chev-
ron motif. It is skillfully carved and polished. The
Decorated stone rings, often called "collars" in the principal motif, on the decorated panel border,
literature, are the most characteristic archaeolog- represents a humanoid head with batlike append-
ical objects from Puerto Rico. For many years ages. The piece is part of the museum's De Hostos
their function among the Tamos was an enigma. Collection. R.E.A.
Today it is known that, like the stone "yokes"
from Mexico, they were used as belts and were
part of the paraphernalia of the players in the ball
game. They were never described in the early
chronicles and have rarely been found in situ,
although fragments have been found in the vicin-
ity of Antillean ball courts (bateyes). It is possible 4 21
that belts like these were originally made of bent
branches, for in some cases the union of the OVAL PLATE WITH
branch and its binding is carefully represented in ANTHROPOMORPHIC HANDLE
the stone carving. Stone belts are associated with
another characteristic Puerto Rican archaeological Tamo (Guayacum officinale?) and shell (Strombus
wood
object, the so-called elbow stone. These seem to gigas)
have been the most important part of a belt, the 51 (20); diam. 22.2 (8 /4)
3
rest of it being made of a branch tied to the ends
of the elbow stone. Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia, Florence
Approximately two hundred Tamo stone belts
exist in collections in museums in Puerto Rico, This beautiful wooden plate or tray shows traces
the Dominican Republic, the United States, and of a reddish color at its center. The concavity of its
Europe. Most are from Puerto Rico, as is this one, internal surface was obtained by hollowing out a
though a few are from the Dominican Republic single piece of wood, and the final sanding down
and Saint Croix. These stone belts can be grouped and polishing were executed with care. The plate
into two types: the massive type, which is gen- is shiny, smooth to the touch, and light and easy
erally undecorated and weighs around thirty-five to handle. The handle consists of an anthropomor-
pounds, and the slender, which usually is highly phic idol; to its mouth, which is stretched out in
decorated and weighs about ten pounds. a curved rectangular shape, a curved shell plate

THE AMERICAS 579