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Unknown artist

1914 or earlier

mammal ivory, metal

Canadian Museum of History

Two oval-shaped objects made of ivory and dark wood, each decorated with circular patterns and dark inlays. A ruler is visible below them. These two ivory ornaments have a metal eye in the back. They were attached to a leather strap worn by a woman to support the child carried in her parka.* The metal was, of course, obtained from the American whalers who had been wintering over on the West Coast of Hudson Bay since the 1860s. As on many objects from this area, the main decorative motif is the circle/dot pattern. *Arima, Eugene 1984 - "The Caribou Eskimo." Handbook of North American Indians, vol.5: The Arctic. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, ill. p.…