By the time James Houston met him in Naujaat in 1950, Mark Tungilik was practically an old hand at carving miniature works from stone and ivory. With his experienced skill, Tungilik created delightfully scaled-down versions of the Arctic wildlife around him, including one of his favoured subjects, muskoxen. The finished product can sometimes be deceptively simple. Indeed, with a solid body and minimally detailed features, one can certainly make that argument. We would counter, however, that the care in those details, correct proportions, and final finishing make for a beautifully finished piece, something to be admired within one's collection.

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