Baleen Basket- J. Hawley, 3 Tiered Weave w Ivory Beluga & Baby Top

An extremely unique and rare find, this Baleen Basket features an intricate and challenging multi-tiered weave, creating 3 "sections" in one basket. Ivory is interwoven as a disc on the bottom, with a carving in itself on the top of a Beluga and its baby.

Made by Inupiaq artist, Jerry Hawley.

Dimensions: 5.5"H x 3.5"W

Baleen baskets are a highly-prized and skillful art form of Northern Alaskan Inupiat Eskimos. Baleen is a flexible material from the inside of the bowhead whale, who uses a filter system (bowhead whales don't have teeth) to help process plankton and small fish. Baleen baskets are woven with thin strips of baleen in a method called coiling that sews baleen bands together, ending with a beautifully carved ivory finial as the basket lid handle