Dominic Kingilik was only in his early twenties when he began carving in the early 1960s, but he quickly became one of the most well-respected Baker Lake carvers of the period; an astonishing fifteen works by him were included in the 1964 Eskimo Carvers of the Keewatin N.W.T. exhibition sponsored by the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Several fine stone muskoxen by Kingilik are known to us (see First Arts Auction, July 2020, Lot 28). Another powerful stone example that is very similar in both form and pose to the present work is illustrated in Swinton’s Sculpture of the Inuit, fig. 701. Kingilik’s use of ivory for our Muskox is unusual, possibly unique in his own oeuvre and rare in Baker Lake sculpture. Amazingly, the artist has succeeded in imbuing this small ivory masterpiece with the bulky monumentality that made the Baker Lake school of stone sculptures famous. Sadly, Kingilik suffered a stroke in the 1970s; this forced him to use power tools and greatly altered his carving style.

References: See a similarly styled stone muskox by the artist in George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 701; and a similarly compact stone muskox in Walker’s Auctions, Nov. 2012, Lot 43.