An Ancient Okvik Old Bering Sea Culture Eskimo Carved Walrus Ivory Anthropomorphic Toggle or Handle
200 BC to 100 Old Bering Sea
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An Ancient Okvik Old Bering Sea Culture Eskimo Carved Walrus Ivory
Anthropomorphic Toggle or Handle
Representing a seal’s body with a human head.
Beautiful brown smooth silky patina
200 B.C – 100 A.D
Size : 9.5 cm long, 2.5 cm dia. – 3¾ ins long, 1 ins dia.
Anthropomorphic Toggle or Handle
Representing a seal’s body with a human head.
Beautiful brown smooth silky patina
200 B.C – 100 A.D
Size : 9.5 cm long, 2.5 cm dia. – 3¾ ins long, 1 ins dia.
cf Finch and Co catalogue no. 5 ( item no. 60 ) for another Okvik period sculpture.
The fact that animals had souls, in their belief, was profoundly troubling to responsible Eskimo hunters. An Iglulik Eskimo man told the Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen † 'the greatest peril of life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls. All creatures that we have to kill and eat, all those that we have to strike down and destroy to make clothes for ourselves, have souls, like we have, souls that do not perish with the body, and which therefore must be propitiated lest they should revenge themselves on us for taking away their bodies'.
† Knud Rasmussen 'Intellectual Culture of Igulik Eskimos' the 5th Thule Expedition 1921-24 .
The fact that animals had souls, in their belief, was profoundly troubling to responsible Eskimo hunters. An Iglulik Eskimo man told the Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen † 'the greatest peril of life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls. All creatures that we have to kill and eat, all those that we have to strike down and destroy to make clothes for ourselves, have souls, like we have, souls that do not perish with the body, and which therefore must be propitiated lest they should revenge themselves on us for taking away their bodies'.
† Knud Rasmussen 'Intellectual Culture of Igulik Eskimos' the 5th Thule Expedition 1921-24 .
Dimensions
| Height | 9.50 cm | (3.74 inches) |
Medium
Walrus Ivory