Scrimshaw whale tusk, portrait of Martha Washington

walrus tusk

SCRIMSHAW & ALLIED ARTS - TUSKS
marad; scrimshaw
Finney, Nathaniel Sylvester
ivory
Overall: 25 x 4 3/4 x 3 in.

Martha Washington Tusk, attributed to N.S. Finney. Several of the ornamental vignettes are unfinished, but the portraiture is distinctive and characteristic. It is undoubtedly half of a pair, though the wherabouts of the compaion tusk are unknown. Based on Finney's consistent methodology, the companion piece is expected to be a biological pair with the tusk featuring a parallel portrait of George Washington (after Gilbert Stuart) and photograph-like portraits of the other half of the family depicted here.

1957.703