Anthropomorphic torso in miniature form · Alaska, Old Bering Sea Culture I /Okvik · ID: 3043080
sold
EUR 1,600
Provenance
Alaska on Madison, New York, USASize
H: 3,4 cm
H: 1.3 inch
Description
bone, brown patina, of flat form, diamond-shaped head with delicate facial features, min. dam., base.
Old Bering Sea art is divided into three substyles to show its chronological development. The earliest form, Old Bering Sea I, is often also called “Okvik”. The name means “the place where the walrus come on land”. Okvik engraving consists essentially of simple geometric patterns of straight or slightly curved lines, which give an overall impression of “sharpness”, in contrast to the more freely flowing curvilinear quality of later Old Bering Sea art of the substyles II and III.
Comparing literature
Wardwell, Allen, Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait, New York 1986, p. 41, ill. 11