Seal Drag with a Carved and Engraved Handle Depicting a Seal
Iñupiaq
Western Arctic
Arctic
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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