Seal Drag with a Carved and Engraved Handle Depicting a Seal

Iñupiaq
Western Arctic
Arctic

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collected 1905

Ivory, rawhide

Overall: 4 1/8 × 13/16 in. (10.5 × 2 cm)

Overall: 9/16 in. (1.5 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Bequest of Frank C. and Clara G. Churchill

46.17.9651

Geography

Place Made: Point Barrow, United States, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Tools and Equipment: Hunting and Fishing

Research Area

Native American

Native American: Arctic-Western Arctic

Not on view

Course History

ENVS 80, BIOL 148, Polar Science, Policy, and Ethics, Ross Virginia, Spring 2012

ENVS 80, BIOL 148, Polar Science, Policy, and Ethics, Ross Virginia, Spring 2013

Exhibition History

Hunting traditions and tools from the Arctic reflect the close relationship between people and animals. This seal drag was used to tow a freshly killed seal over the snow. The line connected the hunter to the animal both literally and spiritually. The ivory handle was carved in the form of a seal to honor the animal it bore. In exchange, the hunter hoped the animal would allow itself to be hunted.

Thin Ice: Inuit Traditions within a Changing Environment, Friends and Owen Robertson Cheatham Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Juanuary 27-May 13,2007.

Tradition and Transformation: Twentieth Century Inuit Art from the Collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Gene Y. Kin Class of 1985 Gallery, Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 22, 2014-December 6, 2015.

Publication History

Nicole Stuckenberger, Thin Ice: Inuit Traditions within a Changing Environment, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 66, no.23.

Provenance

Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), Point Barrow, Alaska, probably 1905; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

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