This style of model has been produced in Greenland since at least the mid-nineteenth century, a miniature of the umiak, a vessel that once shaped daily life across the North American Arctic. More than a means of travel, the umiak served as a lifeline for over a thousand years, ferrying families, supplies, and entire seasonal camps across vast stretches of water. Ranging from five to ten metres in length, the largest umiaks could carry as many as thirty people along with all their possessions. This particular model reflects that function, with small pots and other miniature objects arranged on board to suggest the cargo of a migrating household. These boats were used not only for relocation but also for the communal hunting of large sea mammals. The figures inside the craft are dressed in finely detailed garments made of fabric and skin.

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References: For a discussion of the Greenlandic umiak see Bodil Kaalund, The Art of Greenland: Sculpture, Crafts, Painting (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 100-102. For similar examples, see