Fine Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, mid 19th century, engraved and polychromed in black and red with starboard portrait of a French brig and depiction of a bird perched on a leafy branch, verso with a finely detailed whaling scene showing a right whale being harpooned and a sperm whale upending a boat, tossing crewmen in the air, foliate vinery borders issuing shamrocks all around.
Length 5 in.
Note: A scrimshanded baleen strip, circa 1830s, with remarkably similar depictions of the two whales and the chaotic breakup of the whaleboat is illustrated p. 22 of E. Norman Flayderman, Scrimshaw and Scrimshanders, New Milford, CT, 1972.
Provenance:
The Carol and Stephen Memishian
19th C. Scrimshaw Collection
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