While the term “best” is highly subjective, one would have a very hard time trying to find someone who carved ivory miniatures better than Jackoposie Oopakak. While his spectacular caribou antler compositions such as the masterpiece in the National Gallery of Canada collection are initially more impressive due to their size and artistry, even those works do not exhibit the exquisite perfection of his works in ivory. Ivory by its very nature has a far less porous surface than either antler or jawbone (another of Jackoposie’s preferred raw materials); thus the finest works in ivory have a jewel-like quality that is difficult to match. In his caribou antler works, Jackoposie’s compositional choices were dictated by a need to preserve a contiguous structural integrity of the raw material. By contrast, his works in ivory allowed him greater compositional freedom and often featured myriad individual elements meticulously placed atop a stone landscape, as with this lovely Camp Scene.