E is for Earrings

Helbing Collection A-Z is a continuing feature of our blog. Each week for 26 weeks, I will highlight an item or items from our Helbing Collection of Native American Arts and Crafts.

For the letter E, I chose  ivory earrings and the matching ivory bracelet and necklace. There is not much information on the earrings. Cleora wrote: “Carved Ivory Earrings. One-half inch oblong earrings carved from slightly yellowed ivory. An identical fishing scene is etched in black on each earring.” One earring has the plastic clip backing still attached. The other is just the ivory piece.

To me, the most interesting piece is the matching bracelet. Each etched image tells a little part of the story of a walrus hunt.

When Ronald Senungentuk (Alaskan artist) visited our museum, he said he thought the bracelet was made from Mastadon and walrus ivory in Shishmaref style, perhaps by Andrew Tingook.

For our official records, Cleora Helbing wrote, “Carved Ivory Bracelet. This expansion bracelet is carved out of three different grades of ivory: the squares in the bracelet are white ivory; half of the ovals connecting the squares to each other are carved out of partially fossilized ivory, light tan in color; and the other half of the ovals are carved out of very precious, dark brown, ancient fossilized ivory. Two holes are carved through the sides of each of the geometric shapes that make up the bracelet. These holes are used to run the elastic thread through the top and bottom of the bracelet, allowing it to expand. Before the introduction of elastic thread from the outside world, the Eskimos did not carve many bracelets, for they had difficulty solving the problem of how to get the bracelet over the wide part of the hand and still have it fit snugly over the smaller wrist. On the squares of this particular bracelet, small black figures are etched, telling the story of how the Eskimo seal hunt. Each etching recreates one phase of the entire hunt.”

There is also a matching necklace. The panels on the necklace are symmetrical with the characters facing the center. Cleora’s notes read: “Carved Ivory Necklace.  This white ivory necklace utilizes two geometric shapes for its design: small carved ivory balls are attached to the clasp at the back of the neck and come about one-quarter of the way around the neck on each side, forming a carved chain. Attached to these are individually carved chain. Attached to these are individually carved squares of ivory, each one in black figures.”