Currently not on view
Head from a large figure,
100–400 CE
Okvik Figures
Prized by European and Anglo American collectors and artists for their elegant abstraction, Okvik figural sculptures remain enigmatic in terms of their original use. They may once have served as effigies of ancestors, as children’s playthings, or as implements for shamanic ritual—they also may have served all of these functions. As epitomized by these examples, such figures typically are composed of a simple rectilinear body, with most sculptural attention focused on the head. Fine incisions sometimes seem to refer to clothing or underlying skeletal structures; in other cases, incisions parallel tattoo patterns known from historic times.
More Context
Didactics
This Okvik head is unusual for its beard, well-marked eyebrows, and central cheek marks.
Information
100–400 CE
North America, United States, Alaska, Bering Strait
- Evan Maurer, The Native American Heritage: A Survey of North American Indian Art (Chicago: The Chicago Institute of Art, 1977)., cat. no 521, pl. 33
- Allen Wardwell, Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait (New York: Published by Hudson Hills Press in association with the American Federation of Arts, 1986)., cat. no. 131
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1997," in "A Window into Collecting American Folk Art: The Edward Duff Balken Collection at Princeton," special issue, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 57, no. 1/2 (1998): p. 164-208., p. 200
