Scrimshaw tusk, figure of a girl

walrus tusk

SCRIMSHAW & ALLIED ARTS - TUSKS
marad; scrimshaw
Finney, Nathaniel Sylvester
ivory
Overall: 10 5/8 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.

Walrus tusk, attributed to N.S. Finney, etched on obverse only. 5" design of intertwined roses at top; young girl, about 4" high, below, with diamond-patterned band above and below her. Girl is dressed in fashionable clothes. Image adapted from a juvenile fashion plate in "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," September 1863 (in the original, the girl holds a balloon, though here the balloon has been eliminated). Tusk has hole at pointed end for hanging. Base appears to have been broken from a longer tusk - part of design visible at very bottom.

1957.706