Throughout the Bering Sea region, women's qalitet (earrings or ear ornaments) were often wonderfully inventive objects of personal adornment, typically fashioned for them by men. Carved ivory elements, sometimes incised with circular motifs and dots, were combined with long strands of imported glass beads and suspended ornaments, as in the present pair.

The concentric circles give each upper element an almost hypnotic focus, while the long pink strands, blue beads, metallic tubes and dark grommets create an irregular, animated fringe below. Nothing is mechanically matched: the pleasure lies in the shifting balance of colour, weight and spacing from one side to the other. As worn objects, they would have moved constantly with the head, catching the eye and transforming familiar materials into something theatrical, personal, and unmistakably celebratory.