Figurine

This small figure could have functioned as a cleat on a boat or as a charm of the kind used later by the Aleuts (see no. 226, UEA 666). It has two holes drilled across the back of the body, the lower one now broken. In simplicity of treatment it resembles a figure illustrated by Collins et al. (1973: 4), having a typically long Okvik face, though the nose is short. The material, eroded and fibrous at the back, could be caribou antler or bone.

Steven Hooper, 1997

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Vol. 2: Pacific, African and Native North American Art, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997) p. 224.