On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Polar bear effigy
Unrecorded Ipiutak artist Native American
Not on view
The bear’s power and might are expressed by its bared teeth, flattened ears, and massive body. According to modern Iñupiat people, miniature animals live within powerful land and sea spirits who journey to the human world, where they allow themselves to be hunted. Humans honor and summon these spirits with amulets carved in their likenesses. This ancient effigy, perhaps once part of a shaman’s paraphernalia, may have served those purposes.
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