Description:

Native American, Arctic, Inuit or Aleut peoples, ca. 1500 to 1800 CE. A fine group of ancient Inuit shaping tools, a hand-carved wooden adze handle and a thick blade formed from marine bone, probably from a whale. The adze has a stocky, slightly-curved handle with an integral horizontal platform boasting a wide head on one end and a tab-shaped protrusion on the other. The bone blade has a thick rectangular body, a large attachment tab on one end, and an acutely-angled blade on the other. The blade would be secured to the adze head with strands of leather or fiber and used to plow the rough Arctic soil. Size of largest (adze handle): 5" W x 13.4" H (12.7 cm x 34 cm).

Provenance: private Pennsylvania, USA collection; ex-private MacLeod collection

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#144645

  • Condition: Bone blade has small chips to blade edge and attachment tab, and adze handle has small fissures along neck and head. Both items have small nicks, with expected ossification to bone blade commensurate with age, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits throughout, and great patina to wooden handle. Old inventory label on wooden handle.

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April 4, 2019 7:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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