Lot 36
A Scrimshaw Tooth Depicting Hercules and the Cretan Bull
Sale 916 - American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts
Lots 1-410
Sep 30, 2021 6:00AM ET
Lots 411-816
Oct 1, 2021 6:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
Estimate
$2,000 - $3,000

Sold for $2,000

Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
A Scrimshaw Tooth Depicting Hercules and the Cretan Bull
Third Quarter 19th Century
illustrating the Seventh Labor of Hercules on a dramatic scale, and on the back a bust portrait of an unidentified woman wearing a tiara, probably copied after a monochrome printed portrait or fashion plate
Length 5 3/4 inches.

The image of Hercules is copied after a print titled The Cretan Bull from a Zinc Cast at Berlin,  a wood engraving of a German sculpture by August Kriesmann (circa 1853) published as an illustration signed CFS in The Works of Eminent Masters in Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Decorative Art (London: John Cassell, 1854, p. 10).

Hindman is grateful to Stuart Frank, Senior Curator Emeritus of the New Bedford Whaling Museum for his assistance in the cataloging of the scrimshaw offered in this auction.
Property from the Collection of Dr. James Dawson, Manchester, Kentucky
Condition Report

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