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‘Made … With Admirable Artistry’: The Context, Manufacture and History of a Taíno Belt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2013

Joanna Ostapkowicz*
Affiliation:
Joanna Ostapkowicz, World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN, UK. Email: joanna.ostapkowicz@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Abstract

Vienna's Museum für Völkerkunde holds in its collections a rare sixteenth-century Taíno cotton belt from Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic/Haiti) – one of only two surviving Taíno cotton artefacts to feature European ‘exotics’, including mirrors, jet beads and brass. This complex woven structure – a wearable work of art – offers a rare window on to one of the most prestigious of Taíno valuables, a personal ornament that literally wrapped the wearer in wealth, status and spiritual power. The paper charts the original context and use of Taíno belts, and provides a detailed account of the Vienna belt's collection history, its construction and its chronological placement (radiocarbon-dated using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to ad 1475–1635). The question of how and when the European materials were incorporated into the belt is explored, critically engaging the entangled histories of association between the two.

Résumé

Le Museum für Völkerkunde de Vienne possède dans ses collections une ceinture en coton de Taíno très rare du xvie siècle provenant d'Hispaniola (aujourd'hui divisée entre la République dominicaine et Haïti) – l'un des deux seuls objets en coton de Taíno ayant survécu à présenter des aspects européens « exotiques », y compris des miroirs, des billes de jais et du cuivre. Cette structure tissée complexe – une œuvre d'art à porter – offre un rare aperçu sur l'un des objets précieux les plus prestigieux de Taíno, un ornement personnel qui conférait à son propriétaire richesse, statut social et pouvoir spirituel. L'article, qui expose le contexte et l'utilisation originaux des ceintures de Taíno, relate un récit détaillé sur cette ceinture de Vienne, sa fabrication et son positionnement chronologique (que le carbone 14 situe vers 1475–1635). Comment et quand ces matériaux européens ont-ils été intégrés à la ceinture, c'est l'objet d'une étude qui tente de démêler d'un point de vue critique les histoires qui leur sont associées.

Zusammenfassung

In der Sammlung des Wiener Völkerkundemuseums befindet sich ein seltener Taíno- Baumwollgürtel aus dem 16. Jahrhundert aus Hispaniola (der heutigen Dominikanischen Republik/Haiti). Er ist eines von nur zwei erhaltenen Artefakten der Taíno aus Baumwolle, die europäische “Exotika”, wie Spiegel, Jett und Messing enthalten. Die komplexe Webstruktur, die man als ein tragbares Kunstwerk bezeichnen kann, bietet uns einen seltenen Einblick in einen der prestigeträchtigsten Wertgegenstände der Taíno, nämlich ein persönliches Ornament, das den Träger buchstäblich in Wohlstand, Status und spirituelle Macht hüllte. Die Abhandlung erfasst den ursprünglichen Kontext und die Verwendung der Taíno-Gürtel und bringt eine ausführliche Darstellung von Geschichte, Aufbau und chronologischer Platzierung (mittels AMS-Radiokarbondatierung in die Zeit von 1475–1635 platziert) der Wiener Gürtelsammlung. Die Frage, wie und wann das europäische Material in den Gürtel aufgenommen wurde, wird untersucht und die verwickelte Geschichte der Beziehung zwischen beiden – Europa und Taíno – wird kritisch ausgeleuchtet.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2013 

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