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Antique ivory comb carved in the shape of two whale tails decorated with linear design | Donald Ellis Gallery

Whale Tail Comb

Thule
Western Alaska

1200 – 1700 CE

marine mammal ivory

height: 2 ⅞"

Inventory # E4120-57

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Provenance

Reportedly excavated at Shishmaref, AK
Peggy Au Schatz, Detroit, MI
Christie’s, New York, November 25, 1995, lot 184
Bill and Carol Wolf, NJ

Exhibited

On long-term loan to the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI, 1984–1995

Related Examples

Fitzhugh, William, Hollowell, Julie, Crowell, Aron. Gifts From the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait. New Haven: Princeton Art Museum, 2009, pg. 210, pl. 6a-b

Wardwell, Allen. Prehistoric Eskimo Ivories. Dalton: Studley Press, 1992, no. 36