Ivory Amulet
Tlinglit
Carved and Pierced Whale Tooth with Abalone Shell Inlay
ca. 1840-1860 3 1/3” Long
Provenance: Skinner’s March 25, 2000; Ron Nasser, Inc.

Tlingit shaman’s amulets often include images of spirit-travel, the shaman’s journey into other worlds in order to gain information crucial to their practice. In this warmly colored example, the shaman image reclines with clasped hands at his middle, on the backs of two (or an ambiguous combination of two) spirit images. On the right end, a head that may represent a salmon, or more likely a humpback whale, includes a protruding snout. Behind and below this head, elongated pectoral fins sweep back along the sides of the amulet.

The narrow snout and the length of these fins seem to replicate the proportions of a humpback whale, a crest of the Gaanaxteidi clan of the northern Tlingit. The head of the shaman is positioned in a way that allows it to double as the blowhole or breathing spout of the whale. Within the sculpture, along its central axis, the bare vertebrae of the whale are carved. Exposed vertebrae are a common shamanic symbol for spirit, rather than physic al, form.

At the ‘tail’ end of the line of vertebrae, a bird’s head is carved. The true meaning or representation of this head is somewhat obscure, but it may depict a raven. This detailed and compact sculpture encapsulates the concept of a shaman traveling in the spirit realm, guided and accompanied by his whale and possibly raven spirit helpers, en route to the spiritual knowledge that will allow him to restore the health of a patient, know the future, or ascertain the identity of a witch.