On a recent trip to San Francisco, I was disappointed to learn that Chonkers, the 2000+-lb. Steller sea lion and occasional resident of Pier 39, had just recently moved on from the Bay Area in search of food or a mate. I had missed him by just a couple of weeks. However, seeing the massive, resident California sea lions, whom Chonkers dwarfed, was still enough to send me down a rabbit hole on these large and charismatic sea mammals. It’s worth noting that the primary distinguishing traits between true seals and sea lions are the graceful necks, external ears, and long, oar-shaped front flippers of the latter. Additionally, sea lions are able to swivel their hind flippers forward to allow them to gallop on land at speeds up to 24 km per hour!

All of this brings us to the present ivory sea lion figure. Aligning with the aforementioned traits of sea lions, this diminutive sculpture presents a sea lion in a classic pose, with its head held high, long fore flippers turned to support its weight, and rear flippers rotated to face forward, ready to charge across a dock or beach. This ivory figurine likely dates to the 1940s or 1950s and is probably from Alaska. Like Chonkers, carved ivory sea lions are a rare sight and pretty unusual in Arctic art, especially when one considers how common seal and walrus imagery is by comparison.

CWS