Skip to main content
Collections Menu
Harpoon Counterweight
Harpoon Counterweight

Harpoon Counterweight

Date800-1000
DimensionsOverall: 3 × 3 3/4 × 3/4 in. (7.6 × 9.5 × 1.9 cm)
Object numberT0591
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis counterweight was part of an ensemble of equipment that fit together into a complete toggling harpoon and shaft – a vital tool for hunting marine mammals. The surface of the counterweight is incised with small circles and lines that intersect in a symmetrical, harmonious manner. The objects beautiful aesthetic power honored and placated the animal spirit through its beauty.
Exhibition History"Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of the Bering Strait," Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, September 29, 2009 - January 6, 2010.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceWilliam Channing, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.424.

Fitzhugh, William W. and Julie Hollowell and Aron L. Crowell, editors, Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait. New Jersey: Princeton University Art Museum and New Haven: Yale Universtiy Press, 2009. p.185 and 301.

Fognell, Eva. “Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection.” Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, pp. 152-153.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 473.
On View
On view
Harpoon Counterweight
Old Bering Sea II (Siberian Yup'ik)
c. A.D. 100-300
Harpoon Socket
Old Bering Sea II (Siberian Yup'ik)
100-300
Hat
Isabel Rorick
1997
Potlatch Figure
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
1880-1895
Hat
Central Yup'ik or Bering Sea Eskimo
1840-1850
Bow, Quiver and Arrows
Chugach (Alutiiq)
1825-1850
Pendant
Punuk (Siberian Yup'ik)
500-1200
Wrist Guard
Punuk (Siberian Yup'ik)
c. 800-1200
The Buck Farm
Frank H. Sweet
1912-1915
Pheasant
Unidentified Artist
c. 1850
Apollo
Skillin
c. 1795
Female Figure
Haida
c. 1830

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

close

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required