NAVIGATION

A Rare Arctic East Greenland Ammassalik Eskimo Inuit Carved Whalebone Pregnant Female Figure Wearing the Typical Coiffure of the Region

Size: 10cm high, 3cm wide, 1.5cm deep - 4 ins high, 1½ ins wide, ½ ins deep

In this beautiful rendering of female fecundity, the flowing rounded forms have an affinity with the sculpture of European Palaeolithic traditions. From the side the arms can be seen as stylised curves blending into the rounded pregnant abdomen. Facial features are omitted and the breasts always pendulous and heavy. The distinctive T-shaped hairstyle worn by this figure is characteristic of Eskimo women from the coastal regions of Greenland, especially Ammassalik in the east. Descendants of the Thule Eskimo, their long hair is tied up with a band so as to project above and behind the head, and those from Ammassalik have the top knot directly above the head. Another figure illustrated by Fitzhugh (Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland 1984 page 534) from north western Greenland has it placed further back. Several wooden, whalebone and walrus ivory figures have been collected from Greenland, all of them recognisably female and pregnant.
 

Ex collection Maurice Bonnefoy (1920 - 1999) New York 
Acquired early 1960’s
Ex Private English collection acquired from the deceased Estate

cf: A similar example in walrus ivory in the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection University of East Anglia UK (UEA 107) Acquired 1957