Tupilak. Inuit Art from East Greenland

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Charming tupilak carving by Nathaniel Paulsen from Kulusuk village. Only in a tupilak the Inuit will let a land- and sea mammal make a whole. The shape of the tupilak is of a Muskoxen (or even a mammoth) but it has seal- and walrus flippers and seal head and a walrus head. Carved from a reindeer antler spade. Measurements: 3.2 inches (8 cm) long. 3 inches (7.5 cm) high. Shipping is fixed $ 8 worldwide for up to 4 items in a combined packing What is a Tupilak? Its origin lies in the remote past of Greenland´s culture, when the Tupilak was an imaginary animal, made up of a bundle of bones, peat and skin. A certain magical power was attributed to the Tupilak. When the first white man, the Greenland explorer Captain Gustav Holm reached Ammassalik in 1884, one of the things he asked was what a Tupilak looks like. The people of Ammassalik found it difficult to make a sketch of it, and tfore they carved it in wood. This was the start of the Tupilak production in wood, bone, tooth and antler, gradually spreading all over Greenland. Tupilak figures are made in most town and settlements in Greenland. However, the main production and the best carvers are to be found in the Ammassalik district in East greenland w the origin lies Den Kongelige Gr ønlanske Handel 1959

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