Kelly Mulford Scrimshaw, Sailors at the Helm on Ancient Inuit Fossil

David Kelly Mulford (American, 1949-2011). Sailors at the helm. Scrimshaw on fossilized walrus ivory Inuit tool, 1989. Signed and dated at lower right (scrimshaw); Native American, Inuit (fossil walrus ivory tool). A scrimshaw by the American artist David Kelly Mulford, engraved on a section of fossilized walrus ivory that once served as a pre-contact Inuit tool. Two sailors in oilskins and sou'westers work the stern of a sailing ship. One braces beside the deckhouse skylight while the other stands at the great spoked wheel, beneath a boom heavy with coiled line, with a slicker hung to dry on the rail behind them. Mulford built the image from thousands of fine incised lines and stipples filled with black ink, so the rigging, planking, and wet folds of canvas read almost like a photograph. He left the right end of the piece unworked. There the ivory gives way to its mineralized, crystalline core in tones of honey and umber, so an ancient Arctic tool and a sea story share one surface. The piece is signed and dated at lower right and comes on a custom hardwood stand. Scrimshaw began as the shipboard pastime of American and British whalemen in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Sailors on long voyages incised sperm whale teeth, baleen, and walrus tusk with knives and sail needles, then rubbed lampblack or ink into the lines. In the 20th century a revival turned the folk craft into a studio art practiced by named artists. They kept the whaleman's vocabulary of ships, rigging, and life on deck and refined it to a level of draftsmanship the forecastle rarely reached. This work belongs to that revival, and its subject, helmsmen in foul-weather gear at the wheel of a sailing vessel, is one of the genre's classic scenes. "Fossilized" walrus ivory is the trade term for ancient tusk and worked ivory recovered from Arctic sites, mostly in Alaska. It has lain buried in permafrost or sediment for centuries or longer, absorbing minerals from the soil. The result is the mottled coloring of cream, caramel, brown, and sometimes blue-gray seen here, and often a crystalline inner core like the one left exposed at one end of this piece. The ancient Arctic peoples of the region used walrus ivory for harpoon parts, handles, scrapers, and other implements. Scrimshanders value such fragments because each one carries its own patina and history. In this lot the two histories run in opposite directions. The ivory began as a working tool in an Arctic hunting culture and was later turned into a surface for a maritime picture. In the 19th century, American whaling fleets in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean took walrus in great numbers, which made it the material of the same seafaring world Mulford engraved. This item is made of or contains walrus ivory and qualifies for exemption under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) as an antique. Due to strict federal and state regulations governing the sale and transport of ivory, this item may not be shipped internationally or to residents of the following U.S. jurisdictions: CA, CT, DC, HI, IL, MA, MD, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OR, VT, and WA. Buyers are solely responsible for ensuring that their purchase complies with all applicable local, state, and federal laws regarding the acquisition, possession, resale, or transfer of ivory. While we guarantee that this item meets the criteria for ESA exemption under federal law, we strongly recommend that prospective buyers consult with local authorities to verify legal eligibility in their jurisdiction. This lot cannot be shipped to CA, CT, DC, HI, IL, MA, MD, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OR, VT, and WA or outside the United States. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205977

Estimación:€718.87

Ver todos los artículos deArtemis Fine ArtsoArte, Pintura & obra gráfica