Museum catalogue: Scrimshaw Collection
Scrimshaw
Details
Accession no.: | Y: 62/15/42 | ||
Object name: | Scrimshaw | ||
Title: | Scrimshaw | ||
Description: | Tooth 145 mm, monochrome, engraved all round. St George; reverse: Britannia. | ||
Classified name: |
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Number of items: | 1 | ||
Full description: |
Whole: With distinctive deep engravings all round. At the tip the geometrical borders frame a smiling face with a rather flattened pig-like nose. The main motifs are in medallions enclosed by lobed fronds which coalesce into the three-part "Prince of Wales feathers" above each. Two pairs of teeth and a single specimen in a similar style are in museums in the USA, all with motifs relating to Napoleon Bonaparte (cf. Fig 34). After his defeat in 1815 he was exiled to the Island of St. Helena where he died in 1821. Based on another tooth inscribed "H M.E. Phillips", the group has been attributed to him, a whaleman on the bark George Washington of New Bedford from 1848-51. 42A.: Britannia with helmet, shield and trident overlooks a small ship. 42B.: St. George on horseback tackles a scaly dragon. 42TE.: A Scottish Highland soldier with a rapier stands below a small thatched cottage. |
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