Cougar, or maybe Snow Leopard woman? Maybe wolf/woman, but the ears and paws look more catlike to me. 3x2 inches
This exquisite creature was carved in the early 1990s from an Alaskan walrus or mammoth tusk that was taken to Indonesia to be transformed into art by master ivory carvers who were out of work because ivory had just been banned from international trade.
Working in and selling walrus and mammoth ivory is completely legal.
She is part of a collection of several realistic animal shapes, fantastical animals, human/animal totems and more, that I bought in the early 1990s from a character who had worked on the Alaska Pipeline where he'd discovered the material, then vacationed in Indonesia where he discovered the carvers, put the two together and made a small business of it for a few years, until he disappeared to to try something else. The old guys who did the carving are long gone by now and this level of technical skill and creativity is very hard to find.
I rediscovered some of these in my Dictionary of Beads stash, and more in a box that's been stored in my basement for 20 years, just in time to feature them with other bone beads. I hope they find good homes.
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