Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century

Unknown artist

One side of this sperm whale tooth is dominated by a Turk’s Cap lily growing out of a striped footed urn. On either side is a single-stem red rose bush in full bloom. The flowers of both types of plants are infilled with red pigment, now faded; the leaves, stems and urn are in black pigment. The back side of the tooth is polished but undecorated. The presence of a large number of shallow pinpricks throughout the composition on the surface of the tooth indicates that an illustration was pasted on the polished surface and then outlined with a pin.