Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, mid 19th Century
date: label: date made
content: mid 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: This small tooth has four images on it that appear unrelated. On the bottom of the main side is an oceangoing three-masted sidewheel paddle steamship. An American flag flying at the stern identifies its nationality, and the presence of the three masts alongside the steam engine indicates that it predates the 1880s. By that time, steam engines were reliable enough to eliminate the need for auxiliary sail on ocean steamers.
label: Description
content: Above the steamer at a different scale is a long, three story building with rectangular windows along the side wing and end on the ground level. On the end are arched and semi-circular windows above the main door, to which a set of stairs ascends. Three long vertical spikes are spaced along the roof that may represent lightning rods. The long roof has three dormers along its length and a tree is visible at the end of the wing. Above the building is a sketchy eagle grasping a schematized shield and arrows in his talons. To the left of the eagle is a crest with stars and stripes. There may be a story linking the four pictures to each other, but it is long lost in time.
label: Description
content: Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.
label: Description
content: In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.
label: Description
content: Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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.65.1136
label: catalog number
content: 65.1136
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 (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/4 in x 4 1/16 in x 3 1/4 in; 13.335 cm x 10.31875 cm x 8.255 cm