The Inuit artist who carved this whale seems to have had a very deep feeling for the stone itself, making exquisite use of its naturally occurring irregularities, which are sublimated through the spareness and smoothness of the carving. To my eye that ridge in the stone running diagonally from top center to bottom edge, showing near white along the edge, is an exceptionally beautiful thing, animating and lending a sense of both movement and monumentality to the whole piece, as if this whale were moving through the water, but also a mountain, a landscape unto itself. And with a torque in the other direction to the tail that makes it all feel perfectly balanced. Plus a small light spot in the stone along the top edge evincing a blow hole, and a small hole iom the reverse side evincing an eye. Very dark green stone, reading as near black, polished to perfect smoothness Really beautiful. I have not had much luck translating the syllabics/identifying the artist with any certaintly, but might guess, based on the manner of the carving and qualities of the stone, from the Iqaluit area of Nunavut.
9 3/8" l x 2 3/4" t x 1 3/4" across at base. Excellent condition. Signed (incised) in syllabics on the underside and dated 1990 I believe, with what I believe is a coop number, C5-39078.
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