What is the brown doll on Nicolás de Ovando's desk?
score:5
The rather limited available evidence would suggest that the object is (as you suggested) a Taino artefact, possibly a representation of a deity (zemi / cemi).
came in different shapes and were made of stone, wood, and other materials (e.g., human skulls, bones, and meat bits).
Aside from the fact that Nicolás de Ovando spent 8 years as governor of Hispaniola and thus had ample opportunity to acquire objects from the indigenous people he was suppressing, the figure's distinctive thin arms and thick legs are very similar to the Taino objects in the images below.
"Taíno zemí of Deminán Caracaracol." Source: National Museum of the American Indian
José Barreiro's text below the image on the website notes that:
The figure depicts Deminán in the lineage of suffering creators, his very thin arms the result of an extended fast.
Reproductions of Taino artefacts. Source: media-cdn.tripadvisor.com
Although the diety Deminán Caracaracol is depicted in various postures, he is usually shown with a turtle emerging from his back. Unfortunately, we can't see if this is the case with the one depicted in the picture. However, Deminán Caracaracol isn't the only one depicted with thin arms and thick legs: Itiva Tahuvava (Goddess Mother Earth) and Cacique Marocael (guard of the cave where the original inhabitants lived) are also sometimes shown with these features.
Image source: Taino Symbology
As for why the figure was included in the picture, there are a number of possible explanations. Colonial and provincial governors from ancient to modern times have frequently collected objects (and often very valuable ones) from the regions they governed; the artist may simply have been depicting what he saw on the table. Or he may have used it to help identify the people / colony Nicolás de Ovando governed.
More post
- 📝 Is there a painting from before the colonization of the Americas depicting travelers from far away visiting European nobles?
- 📝 Where were the western legions when the Roman empire fell?
- 📝 Which was more revolutionary for its time: Television or Radio?
- 📝 Why were the Yellow River dyke repairs delayed?
- 📝 What is the meaning behind Thomas Nast's political cartoon "Compromise--Indeed!"?
- 📝 How well did American bombers fight enemy fighters in World War II?
- 📝 What turns a man into a tyrant?
- 📝 For whom would this priest write a long geographical report on his parish?
- 📝 Which military uniforms are shown in these photos?
- 📝 What was the role of Konstantin Rokossovsky during WW1?
- 📝 What was the inheritance tax rate in the UK during WWI and WWII?
- 📝 When did countries begin making up a pretext before starting a war?
- 📝 Were there ever wars/battles where infantry were given multiple rifles to speed up rate of fire?
- 📝 Was it common to brush off Hitler's radical remarks as just figures of speech to whip up the supporters among US commentators in the 1930's?
- 📝 When and how did the British Monarchy stop claiming Divine Right
- 📝 What is the purpose of this Roman siege tactic as shown in this Illustration?
- 📝 Attempts to return the War to the South's favor after Gettysburg?
- 📝 What nullified the Missouri Compromise?
- 📝 Could rōnin become a samurai again?
- 📝 Why did the German Military and Police not intervene during the years of NSDAP ascend?
- 📝 What did Russia do in 1848 that could make the Austrians seek "brutal revanche" towards the Russians?
- 📝 How did ancient empires account for slow propagation of information e.g. in their legal codes?
- 📝 How did the Supreme Court case Lochner vs. New York influence the U.S. economy?
- 📝 CIA mole in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet
- 📝 How did the First Emperor of Qin "burn the books" prior to the invention of paper?
- 📝 What was the criminal charge of "pretending sodomy" in 1719 England?
- 📝 How did McClellan's and Grant's strategies vary when capturing Richmond?
- 📝 What were the alleged crimes that Conradin, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, was accused of?
- 📝 Did people in China resort to cannibalism during the reign of Mao?
- 📝 Symbol of the San-colottes
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the brown doll on Nicolás de Ovando's desk?
- 📝 What is the silver object on the desk and what is 'Elizabeth I' doing with it?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 What is the origin of 3 meals a day?
- 📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Alexandria?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 What fueled the street lights in 13th-century Cordoba?
- 📝 What do the phone number suffixes J, M, R, W in 1940 New York phone book mean?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 What is the significance behind "40 days" that often appears in the Bible?
- 📝 What did babies eat before the advent of modern blenders?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 Aside from the Pyramids, what is the tallest man-made structure still standing in Europe & the Near East from ancient times?
- 📝 What did the Emancipation Proclamation exactly do?
- 📝 What is the logic for the map maker classifying the map this way, specifically in Canada?
- 📝 What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
- 📝 What is the first horse name recorded in history?
- 📝 What is the pre-schism Christian church called today?
- 📝 What is the oldest building in the world still in use?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What is the reason for the selections of gun caliber size in history?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What were the acceptance criteria in universities of medieval Europe?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What is the origin of the stereotype that Polish people lack intelligence?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the Exodus?