Idol, 18th century or earlier

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Description

bone, yellowish brown patina, stylized armless human torso in miniature form, breasts and navel marked, base.
Such figures are generally interpreted as idols and are connected with whale hunting. Up to nowadays the crew members of whale boats take small wooden figures aboard. They played an important role in ceremonies for a good whale hunt and were destroyed afterwards.

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Comparing literature

Ellis, Donald, Art of the Arctic, Ivories from the Bering Sea, London 2015, p. 72. pl. 66

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Publications

Galerie Flak (ed.), Mémoire Blanche/White Memory, Paris, 2016, p. 14

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