-
Artworks
THULE CULTURE OR EARLY HISTORIC PERIOD INUIT ARTIST, POSSIBLY POND INLET AREA
Female Figurine, 19th century or earlierivory, 3 x 0.75 x 0.25 in (7.6 x 1.9 x 0.6 cm)LOT 104
ESTIMATE: $600 — $900
PRICE REALIZED: $1,464.00Further images
With its elongated and simplified overall form and minimal features delicately incised onto face and torso, its broad shoulders with truncated arms, and a distinctive topknot, this charming work of...With its elongated and simplified overall form and minimal features delicately incised onto face and torso, its broad shoulders with truncated arms, and a distinctive topknot, this charming work of art apparently has many of the hallmarks of a Thule-style female figurine. Traded to the original collector in 1935, it is unclear if it was scores or perhaps a couple of hundred years old at the time; almost another century has passed since then. Given its small size, it may have been carved as an amulet and not a toy. This ivory figurine possesses naïveté and elegance in equal measure.Provenance
Collected by William Melville MacLean (1888-1978), the Canadian Post Office official travelling to Hudson Bay, Baffin Island, and Craig Harbour on Ellesmere Island aboard the famous Arctic icebreaker Nascopie when it was rechristened the R.M.S. [Royal Mail Ship] Nascopie in 1935;
by descent in the family.
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.