Model of a blubber pounder

Ivory model of a blubber pounder. Two pieces of bone slotted together at right angles, secured by a bone dowel. The smaller piece has a suspension hole at one end. The full-sized version in wood, horn or bone would have been used to prepare frozen blubber before using it for fuel. Mallet-shaped blubber pounders are found in the Amundsen Collection of Netsilik Inuit material and were also used by the Iglulik (Iglulingmiut). Part of a collection of ethnographic items made by Admiral Sir George Back (1796-1878). The item would have been made for sale to Europeans and Back met Inuit anxious to trade ivory carvings in Hudson Strait on 12 August 1819 and 5 August 1836- there was a tradition of ivory carving established on Baffin Island. Back's collection was bequeathed to Greenwich Hospital in 1900 by Mrs Eliza Back, widow of Sir George's nephew - the Reverend Henry Back.

Object Details

ID: AAA2624
Collection: World Cultures
Type: Model
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown
Date made: 1819-1837; 1819-37 1833-7
Exhibition: The Atlantic: Slavery, Trade, Empire
People: Back, George
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Greenwich Hospital Collection
Measurements: Overall: 10 x 50 x 50 mm
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