North America | Alaska
Wrist protection
Alaska
Wrist protection for archer depicting a stylized walrus head
Punuk
Archaic Eskimo culture
900-1200 A.D.
Height : 2 ¾ in. – 7 cm
Provenance
Ex collection Galerie Flak, Paris
Ex collection Guy Porré & Nathalie Chaboche, acquired from above
Punuk Wrist protection for archer 7 cm / Galerie Flak
Price: on request
Arctic carvers decorated their hunting gear with shamanic designs to enhance their spiritual potency and maximize their efficacy.
Throughout history, Eskimo cultures have shared the belief that all things in the physical world are imbued with a living spirit, or inua. In order to gain favor with the spirits controlling the animals, a hunter had to approach his prey in a respectful manner. It was believed that decorated objects, through their beauty, attracted the prey and at the same time honored its spirit.
See « The Vanishing Art of the Arctic » by Froelich Rainey (University of Alaska Museum, winter 1959) for a similar Punuk wrist guard depicting a stylized walrus head.
Throughout history, Eskimo cultures have shared the belief that all things in the physical world are imbued with a living spirit, or inua. In order to gain favor with the spirits controlling the animals, a hunter had to approach his prey in a respectful manner. It was believed that decorated objects, through their beauty, attracted the prey and at the same time honored its spirit.
See « The Vanishing Art of the Arctic » by Froelich Rainey (University of Alaska Museum, winter 1959) for a similar Punuk wrist guard depicting a stylized walrus head.
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