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ProvenancePaul Steinhacker, Seattle, Washington (field collected at Southeast Cape site, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska)
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.424.
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. 470.
Harpoon Counterweight
Datec. A.D. 100-300
MediumWalrus ivory
DimensionsOverall: 7 1/2 × 1 3/8 × 2 1/4 in. (19.1 × 3.5 × 5.7 cm)
Object numberT0762
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextIvory objects such as this one are thought to have been used as counterweights on harpoons. Its shape, with two wing-like forms coming from the central segment, is suggestive of a bird gliding through the air. Its use to facilitate the harpoon’s flight adds to this interpretation. Hunters incised delicate geometric and abstract patterns on counterweights, likely as an aesthetic and symbolic expression.ProvenancePaul Steinhacker, Seattle, Washington (field collected at Southeast Cape site, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska)
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.424.
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. 470.
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