With its dense sequence of drilled animal teeth interspersed among doubled strands of dark red glass beads, this necklace is a wonderfully direct example of the inventive use of natural and imported materials in Arctic adornment. Each tooth is individually pierced and threaded into the beaded strands, the irregularity of its shape becoming part of the design and giving the necklace an animated, almost percussive quality when worn.

The work is especially notable for having been reproduced in Crafts from Arctic Canada, published by the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council in 1974, where it was identified as being from the collection of artist, curator, and educator Jack Butler. That early documentation gives the necklace an unusually secure history and places it within a moment when Inuit decorative arts were increasingly being presented and studied as significant artistic expressions in their own right, rather than simply as curiosities or souvenirs.

It is little wonder, then, that the necklace was singled out for both “Best in Show” and an award for craftsmanship when it was exhibited in Crafts from Arctic Canada, the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council’s landmark 1974 survey of Arctic craft.

It is little wonder, then, that