Search the collections

Female Figure

Fullscreen

Related Content

Figure

Figure

Standing Figure

Standing Figure

Harpoon Head

Harpoon Head

Head

Head

Winged Object (harpoon counterweight?)

Winged Object (harpoon counterweight?)

Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

Exhibitions:

Events:

Events:

Female Figure

Date:
2nd century BCE–1st century CE
Geography:
United States, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
Culture:
Old Bering Sea
Medium:
Ivory (walrus)
Dimensions:
H. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)
Classification:
Bone/Ivory-Sculpture
Credit Line:
Gift of Stephanie H. Bernheim, in memory of Leonard H. Bernheim, 2001
Accession Number:
2001.760

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 356

  • Description

    In the last two millennia before the Common Era, the peoples who established themselves along the rim of the North Pacific Ocean between Asia and America were dependent for their livelihood to a great extent on the resources of the sea. Walrus, seal, and whale were significant to subsistence, and all were hunted. On the American side, the Bering Sea Eskimo were careful to decorate the ivory and wood tools with which they hunted. The beautifully balanced and elegantly incised objects were functional tools that were incised with spirit images and designs that honored the animals the hunters sought. Harpoon heads and foreshafts, and the socket pieces known as winged objects are salient examples. Also carved of walrus ivory were human figures, most frequently female. The purpose to which the enigmatic but equally elegant figures were put is unclear. Some authorities call them dolls-originally, they may have been dressed-while others call them ceremonial objects.

  • Provenance

    [Jeffrey Meyers, New York, before 1984]; Mrs. Jay (Peggy) Schatz, Detroit, MI; on loan to The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1984–1995; (Christie's, New York, Nov. 29, 1995, no. 186); Leonard H. Bernheim, Jr., 1995–(d). 2000; by descent to Stephanie H. Bernheim, New York, 2000–2001

  • See also
    Who
    What
    Where
    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
50011999

Close