Drinking Ladle
ClassificationsFurnishings-Serviceware-drinking vessels
Date1853
Made AtUnited States, North America
MediumCoconut shell and whalebone
Dimensions3 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 3 1/4 in. (8.9 × 21 × 8.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Burton W. Fink
Object number2018.2.1
DescriptionScrimshawing was a common pastime of whalers from New England whaling communities between the 17th Century and the early 20th Century. With plentiful time on the high seas and little to do between hunts, sailors took to carving whale bones and teeth with knives, needles, awls and other tools. The process was rather complicated and involved carving the ivory to shape, polishing and oiling the ivory, and then adding any detailed designs or inscriptions. Several ports of call in the Caribbean explain how a hollowed coconut was used in an object from the New England area. The inscription on the outside of the bowl, “PAH” could be the initials of the carver or the recipient.On View
Not on viewCollections
c. 1890
19th Century
19th Century
19th Century
19th Century
c. 1870
early 19th Century
early 21st Century
19th Century