Seal

Mediumwhale ivory, wood

Dimensions1 1/4 × 1 5/8 × 5 3/4 in. (3.2 × 4.1 × 14.6 cm)

Object number00.200.263

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionWalrus ivory full-round carved in the form of a seal, the large eyes and nostrils inlaid in wood, the flippers broken off. Three mysterious dots of wood inlaid on the underside. Pierced work around the breakage at the flippers suggests that the piece may have been made as a drag handle or other component of hunting apparatus. Evidence of fossilization staining (suggesting that the piece may have been made from a fossilized tusk which was reduced enough by carving that most of the characteristic staining was no longer present). Prior catalogue entries conradictorily attribute the piece to "Arctic -- -- Newfoundland" and "Hudson Bay".

On View

Not on view