Anthropomorphic torso in miniature form ·  Alaska, Old Bering Sea Culture I /Okvik · ID: 3043080

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.

The object Anthropomorphic torso in miniature form with the object ID 3043080 was last part of the auction 87th Tribal Art Auction at November 11, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 53 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,600.

Here you will find more objects and interesting facts about American art.

Comparing literature

Wardwell, Allen, Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait, New York 1986, p. 41, ill. 11