Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth
date: label: date made
content: 1875-1899
notes: label: Description
content: On the main side of this carved tooth is a generic American sailing ship without any of the conventional attributes of whaling, merchant or naval vessels. It has only a large American flag at the stern to set it apart.
label: Description
content: What makes this tooth unusual is the carving on the reverse side. It is a picture of a medieval archer, complete with quiver, arrows, sword and shield. An American flag completes the ensemble, and the archer is capped with a little hat with a feather off to one side. This is almost certainly derived from an image in a contemporary magazine, perhaps of a costumed archer from some sort of a public performance (opera, play, musical group). On long whaling voyages, magazines and newspapers were prized commodities, and whalemen often cut out the pictures, pasted them on polished whale’s teeth and pinpricked through the image to derive an outline for further carving. The pinpricks on this image clearly outline the major details and in this way, even a sailor who couldn’t draw freehand could produce a fine carving on a sperm whale’s tooth.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New England
topic: label: Subject
content: Sailing Ships
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Scrimshaw
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content: Transportation
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Eleanor and Mabel Van Alstyne American Folk Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.65.1132
label: catalog number
content: 65.1132
label: accession number
content: 256396
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tooth, whale
label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw tooth, whale
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: scrimshaw (tooth production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/2 in x 4 1/4 in x 3 1/4 in; 19.05 cm x 10.795 cm x 8.255 cm