Scrimshaw Panbone
date: label: Date made
content: mid 19th Century
label: depicted
content: late 18th century
notes: label: Description
content: This panbone, or section of the back of a sperm whale’s jaw, served as the canvas for a whaleman’s freehand drawing of a busy whale hunt off the coast of the volcanic island of Ternate, one of the Spice Islands in Indonesia and the world’s main source of cloves until the 18th century.
label: Description
content: In the lower left, a woman reaches out for her whaleman, who symbolically stands across the sea with one hand over his heart and a harpoon in the other. In her background is a tranquil domestic scene, probably their home. In the center, a fenced precinct labels the main scene. Above, on the right are the named whalers <I>Margaret</I> of London and <I>Sophia</I> of Nantucket. The remainder of the lively scene portrays seven whaleboats chasing a pod of six whales.
label: Description
content: The artist has managed to convey loneliness between loved ones, great distance from home, an exotic and remote tropical locale, and a busy whale hunt on a single stretch of whalebone.
place: label: depicted
content: Indonesia: Maluku Utara, Ternate
topic: label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
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content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Joseph B. Bloss
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.057605A
label: catalog number
content: 57605A
label: accession number
content: 2009.0206
objectType: label: Object Name
content: jaw bone section, sperm whale
label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw jaw bone section, sperm whale
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: whale bone (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 39 3/4 in x 15 in x 5 in; 100.965 cm x 38.1 cm x 12.7 cm