Collection: Fry

Item Number: Fry0161

Category: Stool

Region: Arctic

Tribe: Eskimo

Period: 1850-1875

Materials: Wood

Description: Seal hunterÍs stool made to enable a seal hunter to stand on the sea ice at the sealÍs breathing hole. Eskimo hunters stood on stools like this with harpoon at hand, to prevent their feet from freezing to the ice, as they waited for the seal to appear at its breathing hole. Often seal hooks were carried underneath stools such as this. The original legs of this stool had been lost and replacement legs were added. The hook, which was also added, is an old authentic seal hook, although not as old as the stool itself.

Dimensions: 11" x 14" x 10" high

Exhibitions:

Lure of the Arctic, Cincinnati Art Museum, October 2007 - January 2008

References:

Murdoch, John, Ethnological Results of the Point Barow Expedition, reprinted from the Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1877-1888, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1988,

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