Painted whale's tooth (scrimshaw), c.1801-1900
This is a rare example of painted scrimshaw. It is a sperm whaleâs tooth with painted images of English and French ships at battle. Images on scrimshaw are usually engraved and then filled with ink. This is very time consuming and requires quite a lot of skill.
It may be that the man who made this didnât have the patience to make a traditional piece of scrimshaw. However it may be that he just preferred painting and fancied a change.
One side of this tooth is painted with a naval engagement. The English ship on the left is flying the St Georgeâs flag and is firing its cannons. In the centre is a ship flying the French tricolour flag and also firing its cannons. On the right is another ship flying the French tricolour. The other side of the tooth is blank.
This tooth is part of a collection that formerly belonged to Kathleen Eleanor Tizard. The collection was donated to Hull Museums by K.E. Tizardâs son in November 1999.
The origin of the term âscrimshawâ is not clear and is discussed a lot. In parts of England it was used early on to describe past-times, games and recreations. When a captain ordered his crew to be âscrimshanderingâ, he wanted them to be pre-occupied with a creative past-time.
The main reason for making scrimshaw was to kill time and to keep men occupied and out of trouble. To understand scrimshaw it is important to understand the life of whalers. Sailing, and especially whaling, involved long periods of waiting and doing nothing. Anything that took a long time and helped to express your world would have been a welcome hobby.
Scrimshaw was also a way of expressing their loneliness, homesickness, patriotism and general interests. Ships and maritime themes naturally appear a lot on scrimshaw.
