comb

The Inuit of Arctic America used their limited resources of raw materials to the full for food, clothing, equipment and toys. They relied primarily on seals and caribou, supplementing these with whales, walrus, bear, birds and driftwood and grasses. They were excellent carvers of tooth and tusk ivory and bone, making combs, toys, harpoons and arrowheads, amulets and toggles. This is an ivory comb. It is elongated, like most Inuit combs, and is lyre-shaped with curved sides. The top is decorated with two tiny anthropomorphic figures. There are eighteen slim teeth, one broken. There is a smoothed shoulder on one side of the comb perhaps where teeth have broken off and the scar smoothed. The comb comes from Labrador and probably dates from the end of the 19th century.

Early: 1850 Late: 1909

North.America Canada Labrador

Macgregor, William Sir

Inuit

ivory tooth walrus.ivory

Macgregor, William Sir

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