Lot 37Y
A 19th century decorated Whale's tooth, attributed to Edward Burdett 5ins.(12.5cm)long.
Amended
15 April 2014, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £6,250 inc. premium
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A 19th century decorated Whale's tooth, attributed to Edward Burdett
deeply engraved on one side with a scene of shipwreck, a three mast ship breaking upon a rocky shore with a cutter standing by, inscribed Loss of the S.Hope New Zealand. On the reverse a depiction of a three mast ship on fire with the legend S.Daniel the Fourth set on Fire. With a scalloped end banded decoration. 5ins.(12.5cm)long.
Footnotes
Edward Burdett(fl.1822-33) is considered to be one of America's foremost scrimshaw artists and he is the earliest documented engraver of pictorial sperm-whale teeth. He was born in Nantucket in 1805 , the son of a sea captain and went to sea at the age of 17. He served on board he whalers Foster and William Tell. He met an untimely death at the age of 28 when as first mate of the ship Montano he became entangled in a harpoon line and was dragged by the whale overboard and was drowned.
The Daniel IV was a whaler owned by the Bennett & Co. Whaling Company of London, UK. Built in Chester in 1813, she was destroyed by fire on the 5th March 1828 homeward bound to London from Tahiti with a full cargo of oil. This event was recorded by Burdett and used as an image on several other teeth. See: Stuart M Frank, Dictionary of Scrimshaw Artists, Mystic Seaport Museum, 1991 for further known examples.
Saleroom notices
Please note: the description of the inscription should read "New Holland" not "New Zealand" as printed.