An Inuit Harpoon Fore Shaft
An Inuit Harpoon Fore Shaft
Walrus Ivory
Smooth silky patina
Bering Sea
19th Century
SIZE: 36cm long - 14¹⁄₈ ins long
Walrus Ivory
Smooth silky patina
Bering Sea
19th Century
SIZE: 36cm long - 14¹⁄₈ ins long
An Inuit Harpoon Fore Shaft
Bering Sea
19th Century
Bering Sea
19th Century
Kaj Birket-Smith said that the Eskimo existed ‘at the edge of not only the inhabited, but also of the habitable world’, The Eskimo Methueun, London, 1959.
The Eskimo’s dexterity in day to day living was carried over into his carving. A seal hunters equipage was as finely calculated as a doctors set of medical instruments. A single misjudgement could be fatal; a false step on thin ice or a seal’s quick reaction to a hunters shadow invited disaster.
An Eskimo would not live long if he failed to notice subtle changes in the weather or slightest alteration in the ice so he learned to concentrate and pay attention to minute detail, qualities which were also brought to bear on the fragile surfaces of the ivory he carved.
The Eskimo’s dexterity in day to day living was carried over into his carving. A seal hunters equipage was as finely calculated as a doctors set of medical instruments. A single misjudgement could be fatal; a false step on thin ice or a seal’s quick reaction to a hunters shadow invited disaster.
An Eskimo would not live long if he failed to notice subtle changes in the weather or slightest alteration in the ice so he learned to concentrate and pay attention to minute detail, qualities which were also brought to bear on the fragile surfaces of the ivory he carved.
Ex Finch and Co
Ex Oliver Hoare
Ex Oliver Hoare
An Inuit Harpoon Fore Shaft
