Amazing Alaskan Inuit Scrimshawed Creature with Tiny Legs (and Some Losses) jardiniere Large one measures 3 1/8"

Large one measures 3 1/8" t x 1 1/2" in diameter

following its popularity first in Paris after the reopening of trade of Japan in 1858

and fun read

perhaps a record of its owners rather than its maker

Amazing Alaskan Inuit Scrimshawed Creature with Tiny Legs (and Some Losses) jardiniere Large one measures 3 1/8"This incredible carving shows some damage missing part of the tail (hard to know how long it once was), one inlaid eye (carved of baleen I believe) and with what I believe is a glued repair to the trunk about midway down, and perhaps something once extended from the mouth as well as the surface is rough there but what a fantastic creature nonetheless. What sort of creature I am not sure and have not found another quote like it; perhaps a mythological