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Kōrero: Crafts and applied arts

19th-century scrimshaw

Artistically inclined sailors, whalers and sealers in the 19th century spent their leisure time creating scrimshaw (carved and engraved animal bones, teeth and tusks). Both of these examples are made from whale teeth. Zoom in to see the details. 

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Reference: GH006340

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins rāua ko Lucy Hammonds, Crafts and applied arts – Maritime and settler craft, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/zoomify/45265/19th-century-scrimshaw (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Douglas Lloyd Jenkins rāua ko Lucy Hammonds, i tāngia i te 16 May 2014.