Handle (?)
Life Story
A number of objects of this kind have come to light but as yet their function has not been determined. This spear-head shaped implement has a plain, slightly concave back and may have been a handle for a tool, or possibly even a tool itself. Wardwell (1986: 103) refers to it as a handle; it could also have been a decorative attachment for a ritual object. The ivory is blackened and the engraving crisp and deep.
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. 234.
Provenance
Purchased by the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia from Jonathan Holstein, New York, on the advice of Robert Sainsbury in 1982 out of funds provided by the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Art Trust.
Not on display
Title/Description: Handle (?)
Object Type: handle
Materials: Walrus ivory
Measurements: h. 156 mm
Accession Number: 845
Historic Period: Punuk period (c. AD 500-1200)
Production Place: Bering Sea, North America, The Americas
Credit Line: Purchased with support from the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Art Trust, 1982
