Featured Bad from good soapstone carving part 2

Not many bobcats that far north.
suggest it may be a Lynx.........
Alaskan is likely a good bet....Inuit...not so much...

 

Glad to have your insights too. Apologies to Jeff again, an ethnographic question. How are you & Mark using the term 'Alaskan'; what are some examples of peoples who would be considered Alaskan but not Inuit?

As for bobcat v. lynx, the scientific name of the bobcat is Lynx rufus. The colored area on the map is the year-round range. They move farther north in the summer. But that was the intent behind my question, whether or not they are an animal with enough importance to the Inuit to figure in their art. Would love to have some idea of the origin of this piece & a bear bought at the same time that may also be tusk. Trying to make the most of the few clues I have. Thanks to both of you again.

 

The word Inuit is less commonly used in Alaska although "Inuit art" is a term which might be used for Siberian, Alaskan, Canadian, Sami, Greenlandic, etc., etc.

"Alaskan" is also a way of saying that while the piece likely hails from Alaska, it is not necessarily native made.

 

It's always been..
Alaskan Eskimo vs Canadian Inuit...for me !
even though they all were called Eskimo at one time..
The bobcat or lynx....in Canadian Inuit carving......not known to me..!

 

Thanks once again for sharing your expertise. I'm not so naive as to think it is never violated, but isn't there law or regulation about who is allowed to own raw walrus tusk? The bobcat may predate any such restriction, of course.

As I recall, seller called them all Kwakiutl, but admitted he really knew nothing, & think that was just his way of saying Northwest Native, an assumption he was making based on where he was located. Google doesn't show me any Kwakiutl or Athabascan work like this. From the time I had them on my eBay watch list, I was operating on the notion that they could well be Zuni or another Southwest people, since tusk material makes its way south, presumably some finished product travels back the other way. I simply have never found another piece, NAM or not, that was really like it. The search, sporadically, continues.

 

My own opinion: it could well have been carved by an Alaskan Native; there is no reason a bobcat or lynx could not be a subject for a native Alaskan carver. There is no guarantee that this is native-made, on the other hand; but I'd think that more likely than not. The style is quite consistent with a number of walrus-tusk carvings in my collection with native provenance.
(The Kwakiutl description would not be correct however).

 

Thanks AF. Can I ask which people made the pieces you have that seem similar? Think I will start my own thread when I can get the bear photographed too. Right now losing the light to the effects of Dorian moving up the coast.

I realize that without a signature or proper documentation, there's a limit to the assertions that can be made. By the time I bought the 2 of them, I had already bought quite a number of Zuni pieces & looked at many multiples more, so had an idea of the range of quality of work. I may never be able to prove they are NA, but would probably go into shock if it could be proved they are not.

 

Mine would likely be described as Inupiaq Eskimo, from Alaska.

 

Just for comparison, a walrus ivory lynx by Leonard Savage, Athabascan, from Alaska. I wouldn't think this was the carver of your piece; but it is certainly not unheard of for an Alaskan native, whether Inupiaq, Athabascan, or another, to use a lynx as a subject.

 

Thank you for showing & sharing. I found a whole page of Savage's walrus pieces when I was poking round yesterday. Perhaps it's not too surprising, since bobcats look the same in both places, that Zuni pieces look pretty much the same. I would not be able to tell one from the other on style alone. Mine is highly stylized, more essence of bobcat. A mystery, yet among my most favorite pieces.

 

And bobcats are no respecters of maps. I've seen bobcats here in Connecticut in the middle of Winter and in the Summer. It wouldn't surprise me if some made their way up to Alaska too. I'm a cat person, if you couldn't tell.

 

Oddly I was just wondering the other day why cats aren’t featured more in NA artwork. Particularly the mountain lion but also the bobcat and panther. I think bobcats are pretty ubiquitous in the lower 48. I believe mountain lions were at some point or would think they would at least show regionally more. Any explanation for the lack of cats in NA work? Any good examples of them in NA work?


I love your Bobcat btw!

M

 

Because the 1st Nations of the Northwest Coast.....lived mostly on the coast the Cougar was not a crest or family figure...but more recently....


prints have made the image know in their art work..

 

Mountain Lion is very important to the Zuni, Guardian of the North, a powerful animal &, unlike frogs & butterflies, a traditional fetish.

This gives an outline of the traditions concerning the directional fetishes.

http://www.zunispirits.com/2009/zunifetishmeanings.html

I'm very fond of Bobcat & Badger.