BARNABUS ARNASUNGAAQ (1924-2017) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Shaman's Amulets, 1967
muskox horn, inlaid caribou hoof, and sinew, dimensions variable, overall: 0.75 x 4.5 x 4.5 in (1.9 x 11.4 x 11.4 cm)
unsigned.

ESTIMATE: $1,500 — $2,500

Provenance
Collection of Mr. Jack Butler, acquired directly from the artist.
Jack and Sheila Butler were arts advisors in Baker Lake in the crucial years of artistic flowering in the community from 1969 to 1976.

Published
“My Uncle Went to the Moon: An informal conversation with K. J. Butler” in artscanada: Stones, bones and skin: Ritual and Shamanic Art (Special issue, Dec. 1973/Jan. 1974, 154-158), p. 155.

Exhibited
Jean Blodgett, The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 151, p. 208.

Jack Butler’s caption from the above-mentioned article reads in part: “They are replicas of a set that belongs to a practicing shaman, although I’ve never seen it [the original]. Therefore, I don’t know if the shaman may use bits of the real thing: a piece of skull, a piece of the head of a bear, a piece from the head of a fox, a piece of the skin or a feather or the head of a bird. I don’t know what kind of hand or piece of hand might be used . . ..” Arnasungaaq carved this remarkable – and in our opinion, important – work two years before Jack Butler’s arrival in Baker Lake, so it was not solicited by Butler as so many pieces in his collection were. If the set of amulets is indeed a “replica” it is certainly one invested with its own magic and power. It is one the most compelling and potent creations we have ever had the pleasure to offer.