A yoke piece from the Taino culture, AD 500-1500. Stone. Provenance: -... Lot 211

A yoke piece from the Taino culture, AD 500-1500. Stone. Provenance: - Private collection, Jacques-André Cronier (1956-2019), Mezièrs le Cléry, France. -By inheritance from previous owners. -Art market, France, 2023. Intact. Measurements: 33 cm (height). Pre-Hispanic yokes made of stone are an interpretation in the form of a ceremonial object of the lighter protective belt or girdle, usually made of leather or wood, worn by players of the Mesoamerican Ball Game. In parietal reliefs of the courts where this ritual game was played, such as those found in the South Ball Game of El Tajín (Veracruz), there are figures dressed with yokes, palms and ceremonial axes performing human sacrifices, especially by decapitation, as the blood was considered necessary to feed the earth and promote fertility. Within the yokes, there are various typologies at both the formal and decorative levels. Most of the known examples are open, although there are also cases of pieces in which the 'U' is closed at the back. In terms of ornamentation, some yokes are plain, but most are worked with two main themes: the Earth Monster (based on a stylised toad) or anthropomorphic figures in a horizontal position.