Miniature Okvik Figure

A superb miniature shamanic figure representing an ancestor. The figure, with its almond-shaped head set low on the shoulders, is decorated with a series of engraved linear tattoos on the torso forming a large cross on the chest and dorsal area and radiating spike-like motifs incised around the neckline. The facial features are carefully carved in an unusually natural manner enhancing the spirituality of the ancestral image. The arms are incised on either side edge of the figure with stylized hands.

Okvik Culture, Saint Lawrence Island, Bering Strait, Alaska.
Mineralized walrus tusk (Odobenus rosmarus divergens).
300 BC - 200 AD.
3,7 cm.

 

Provenance Ex William E. Channing, Santa Fé