Alaskan 19th century Inuit walrus ivory bow drill, decorated with hunting scene of spouting whales and fishermen in an umiak on one side and a row of 15 amorphous figures representing the tally of animals hunted on the reverse, minor damage to one end, 19th century
Size: 18” x 7/8” x 3/8”
Provenance:
John P. Richardson
Cheever Cressy, So. Hamilton, Mass.
President Sills of Bowdoin College, Maine
Explorer Donald MacMillan
This exceptionally rare bow drill was an essential tool for Northern Indigenous carvers in the 19th century. Although many items of bone or ivory received decoration, the bow drill itself often received the most extensive engraving. This bow drill shows one of the two most common forms of decoration, that of a hunting scene, while the reverse depicts the tally of animals as shown by the multiple animal skins depicted in a row. These have been referred to as journal bows as they mark an individual hunter’s accomplishments. Bow drills and their decoration were used throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and provided a record of everyday life as well as the changes and interactions that came from European contact. By the late 19th century, the decoration of bow drills had dropped off in favour of other forms of engraved ivory better suited to the souvenir market. This decrease in bow drill decoration corresponded to the establishment of American trading companies following the Alaska purchase in 1867. These companies expanded the trade and market for engraved curios by reselling them to burgeoning tourist markets along the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska, and by exporting them to the West Coast of the United States.
The bow drill was used by attaching a piece of leather through the holes at one end, the leather was then wrapped around a wooden shaft that held a pointed drill tip and then the leather would be attached to the opposite side of the bow. Often the wooden shaft would be held by a mouthpiece or an assistant. The drill end was used to engrave into bone or ivory by the act of friction caused by the bow moving back and forth, turning the drill bit. See last image by Edward Curtis from King Island, circa 1920, showing how the bow drill was used.
This particular bow drill is from a collection of Eskimo carvings and artifacts brought back to Bowdoin College by noted Arctic explorer Donald MacMillan and gifted to President Sills. Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, is home to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, which is dedicated completely to Arctic studies. MacMillan designed his schooner (named the "Bowdoin" after Bowdoin College), which he sailed to the Arctic over two dozen times.
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