Product Overview
POLAR BEAR CLAWS are harvested from bears taken by Inupiaq Eskimo Hunters. Unlike "head hunters", they use all the animal. It's meat is divided up in the community. The hide/teeth/claws /skull are used in artwork. Polar bears are never killed for pleasure or for a trophy. All those taken are tracked by the State gov. Inupiaq Eskimos of the North Slope are the only people in the U.S allowed to hunt the polar bear for subsistence purposes.
This is a fine example of Native Alaskan art. This bear claw was mounted on a carved piece of walrus ivory with a baleen divider between ivory top and a bear claw. Dennis H. Pungowiyi is a renowned Siberian Yupik ivory carver. He was born and raised in Nome, Alaska, but was often in Savoonga visiting family and friends where he learned how to carve at the age of 12. Dennis was mentored by many master carvers throughout the years. He studied Native arts and crafts in high school with the late Harry Koozaata of Gambell, Alaska. Dennis' style of carving has the strong influence of the Siberian Yupik carvers from St. Lawrence Island. Dennis Pungowiyi is a full-time Ivory carver who lives in Wasilla, Alaska.
The piece is 5" in total length, the claw itself is 2".
