Arctic Native peoples have carved walrus ivory for about 2,000 years. Early carvings were usually tools and figurines that may have had religious significance. After the mid-19th century, when European and American whalers sailed to the Alaskan Arctic to hunt bowhead whales, Iñupiaq and Yup’ik people began carving ivory as souvenirs. Whalers over-wintered in the Chukchi Sea beginning in 1858 through the decline of whaling around 1910, so this carver would have been familiar with the sight of whaling ships. The artist carved the hull and railing for this model from one large tusk, then attached pieces of ivory for the sails, masts, rudder, and deck parts. Carvings made from large pieces of ivory are unusual today. The disappearance of sea ice due to climate change makes hunting walrus harder for the Iñupiat and Yupiit.
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https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_229095
[display description](https://i.ibb.co/LvkvcjZ/20240827-122450.jpg)
[Iñupiaq ship carving
Point Barrow, Alaska, ca. 1880-1910
Ivory, sinew
21/4677
Arctic Native peoples have carved walrus ivory for about 2,000 years. Early carvings were usually tools and figurines that may have had religious significance. After the mid-19th century, when European and American whalers sailed to the Alaskan Arctic to hunt bowhead whales, Iñupiaq and Yup’ik people began carving ivory as souvenirs. Whalers over-wintered in the Chukchi Sea beginning in 1858 through the decline of whaling around 1910, so this carver would have been familiar with the sight of whaling ships. The artist carved the hull and railing for this model from one large tusk, then attached pieces of ivory for the sails, masts, rudder, and deck parts. Carvings made from large pieces of ivory are unusual today. The disappearance of sea ice due to climate change makes hunting walrus harder for the Iñupiat and Yupiit.
Deanna Paniataaq Kingston (King Island Iñupiaq)
Anthropologist, Oregon State University]