Artist/Maker
Durgin, Charles H.
Title
Durgin Abalone Shell Carving
DateCirca 1870
MediumBlack abalone
Donor credit lineKendall Whaling Museum Collection Transfer
Object number2001.100.2210
Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
DescriptionRelief-carved with floral/leaf design.Charles H. Durgin, born at Laconia, N.H. in 1842 and trained as a cabinetmaker (as were his two brothers, one elder, one younger), made two Hudson Bay whaling voyages in the New London bark Monticello, Edward A. Chapel (1862-63 and 1864-65), on which he produced a large quanmtity of scrimshaw; later worked for his elder brother J. Durgin as a cabinetmaker in Rochester, N.Y.; and afterwards was a cabinetmaker in Stockton and San Jose, California, where (evidently lacking a source of whale and walrus ivory) he applied his considerable scrimshandering skills to engraving cowhorn and relief-carving abalone shells. Along with his two brothers (who resided at Laconia, N.H., and Rochester, N.Y.) he was also an avocational musician and photographer.ProvenanceCharles H. Durgin Collection. Provenance: Charles H. Durgin, Laconia, New Hampshire, and Stockton, California; Henry J. Durgin, his son, San Jose, California; Grace Durgin (Mrs. Henry J. Durgin); Bernice Brainard Mason, neice, Grenfield, California; gift of Bernice Brainard Mason to the Kendall Whaling Museum, 1993.
On View
On view
