This Inuit sculpture was carved in Canada of black stone and dates from 1958 to 1969. Depicting the hooded head of an Inuit man, the artwork is 3/ 3/4 inches tall, has a base about 3 inches wide and weighs 1/2 pound. To quote the Canadian website Canada.ca: “Contrary to popular belief, most Inuit carvings are not in soapstone but in harder stone such as chrysotile, olivine, chlorite, serpentine, or peridotite...Even granite and quartz are used occasionally.” Since we are not experts in the field of petrology, we're simply calling them “stone.”
There is an abundance of authentication on the bottom, starting with the paper "igloo tag," that pictures the side of an igloo and is printed with the words "Canada Eskimo Art." This tag was introduced in 1958 by the Canadian government to certify authentic, handmade work after fakes starting being exported from abroad in the 1950's.
Etched into the stone on the bottom is the following information:
✦ Four Inuit syllabics, characters from the Inuktitut language: ᐃ ᓇ ᑎ ᐱ
which, as we struggled to transliterate them, seemed to read inaripi (the signature of the carver).
✦E9881 Since this starts with E9, it indicates that this is a government registration number used before the 1970s.
✦ 6-12544 Possibly the carver's personal registration number
✦ The name of the previous owner, followed by their home city and state of Schwenksville, PA. We have further information on this we'll share with the buyer.
This Inuit carving is in excellent condition, with no cracks, chips, stains or other damage. As you can see from our photos, it displays handsomely.
**The article is here:
It has a wealth of information, including how to care for your Inuit carvings. You'll need to copy and paste, since outside links don't work on Etsy.
PYH 5815
This Inuit sculpture was carved in Canada of black stone and dates from 1958 to 1969. Depicting the hooded head of an Inuit man, the artwork is 3/ 3/4 inches tall, has a base about 3 inches wide and weighs 1/2 pound. To quote the Canadian website Canada.ca: “Contrary to popular belief, most Inuit carvings are not in soapstone but in harder stone such as chrysotile, olivine, chlorite, serpentine, or peridotite...Even granite and quartz are used occasionally.” Since we are not experts in the field of petrology, we're simply calling them “stone.”
There is an abundance of authentication on the bottom, starting with the paper "igloo tag," that pictures the side of an igloo and is printed with the words "Canada Eskimo Art." This tag was introduced in 1958 by the Canadian government to certify authentic, handmade work after fakes starting being exported from abroad in the 1950's.
Etched into the stone on the bottom is the following information:
✦ Four Inuit syllabics, characters from the Inuktitut language: ᐃ ᓇ ᑎ ᐱ
which, as we struggled to transliterate them, seemed to read inaripi (the signature of the carver).
✦E9881 Since this starts with E9, it indicates that this is a government registration number used before the 1970s.
✦ 6-12544 Possibly the carver's personal registration number
✦ The name of the previous owner, followed by their home city and state of Schwenksville, PA. We have further information on this we'll share with the buyer.
This Inuit carving is in excellent condition, with no cracks, chips, stains or other damage. As you can see from our photos, it displays handsomely.
**The article is here:
It has a wealth of information, including how to care for your Inuit carvings. You'll need to copy and paste, since outside links don't work on Etsy.
PYH 5815
