Bonhams 1793 : An Inupiaq walrus ivory pipe Inupiat Eskimo, Alaska 28cm long

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28 Nov 2012 11:00 GMT Oxford
Pictures, Furniture, Tribal, Islamic and European Works of Art, to include a private collection of Netsuke
Back to auction 19852

An Inupiaq walrus ivory pipe

Inupiat Eskimo, Alaska
Carved in high relief with two figures holding the tails of two harnessed sledge dogs, two other behind on the stem, the mouth piece with two polar bears emerging from the water and confronting a recumbent seal, the squat conical bowl above a seal mask to the front, 28cm long

Estimate:

£1,500 - 2,000
US$ 2,300 - 3,000
€1,800 - 2,400

Footnotes

Provenance: This, and the following five Eskimo pipes, were purchased by Thomas Gerrard in Alaska between 1915-16 from Eskimo traders, and thence by descent to the present owner.

Thomas was the son of Edward Gerrard whose family firm "Edward Gerrard & Sons" in Camden Town were taxidermists from 1850. Thomas travelled widely, he was a member of the Museums Association and acted in an advisory capacity at the San Francisco Exhibition of 1915, the Wembley Exhibition of 1924/25, and various conferences around the world. Thomas also collected living specimens for Lord Rothschild, whose natural history collection is stored at Tring, Hertfordshire. Famously, he worked on the preparation of the Blue Whale skeleton for the opening of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. At the end of the 1930s, Thomas set up "T.Gerrard & Co. Naturalists" with his son, also Thomas, in Pentonville Road, Islington. This company supplied educational establishments and government departments with a variety of products form living specimens to scientific instruments.

Category: Regional and Estate Auctions / Miscellaneous

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