The Americas · c. 1500 BCE – today

Northwest Coast & Arctic shaman charms

Meaning

Tlingit, Haida and other Northwest Coast shamans carried carved bone and ivory charms of spirit helpers (land otter, octopus, bear, faces with tongues joined), and soul-catchers: bone tubes carved with animal heads. Inuit hunters sewed small amulets into clothing.

Intent

The shaman's charms focused spirit power in healing and battle with witches. Soul-catchers trapped and returned a lost soul to the sick person. Inuit amulets gave hunting luck, strength and protection, each tied to specific animals.

Significance

These are some of the finest small sculptures of North America. The shaman's grave kit could hold dozens of charms, and many were removed from graves by collectors in the late 19th century, a difficult part of their history.

History

Most surviving pieces date from the 18th and 19th centuries (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian), though the tradition is older, and Inuit amulet use is documented by early Arctic ethnographers such as Knud Rasmussen.

Making yours

Bone, antler or walrus ivory 5–15 cm with abalone inlays, sinew-bound. Soul-catchers are 15–25 cm tubes with animal heads at each end.

The Americas: the tradition

In the Americas, protective and power objects belonged to the relationship between people, ancestors, animals and the land. Andean herders kept stone illas for the fertility of their flocks, Mesoamerican rulers wore green jade as breath and maize, Isthmian goldsmiths cast animal spirit-helpers, and Arctic and Northwest Coast shamans carried carved spirit charms. Catholicism, arriving from 1492, brought saints, milagros and the Iberian evil-eye tradition, which fused with Indigenous and African belief into new forms such as Ekeko, the Afro-Brazilian balangandã and Santería. Many Indigenous objects are sacred and some communities ask that they not be displayed or copied; the Zuni, for example, distinguish sacred fetishes from carvings made for sale.

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Amuleto Tsimshian Seattle.

Four carved ivory amulets, Eskimo.

Ivory amulet from Alaska, Tlingit, 1820-50, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.206.518

Amulet18 th century date QS:P571,+1750-00-00T00:00:00Z/7

Amulet Peak

Groenlandia, amuleto tupilak, rappresentate le anime o gli spiriti degli antenati

Soulcatcher bentwood

Amulett, skulptur föreställande främre delen av en hare. 1880.04.0734 2

Siberia, veste da sciamano, da yakuts, ante 1928, 02 amuleti

Tlingit amulet Museum Rietberg RNA 309

Amulet Peak, Matanuska River

Amulett, skulptur föreställande främre delen av en hare. 1880.04.0734 3

Soul catcher, bone magic Soul Case. Eskimo.

Amulet Peak rising above Matanuska River

Amulett, skulptur föreställande främre delen av en hare. 1880.04.0734

Four carved ivory amulets, Eskimo.

Lion Head, Alaska

Amulet

Anything in the gallery can be made: any piece, any tradition, in its own material or yours, by hand from the documented original. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted before anything is made. I reply within one business day.