A pair of ancient Eskimo gogglesA pair of ancient Eskimo gogglesPunuk, circa 500-1000 A.D., or earlier Old Bering Sea period, St. Lawrence Island, conceived with a gracefully rounded form, the ovoid eyes framed by curvilinear brow ridges meeting above the peaked nasal bridge, the composition and form evocative of the facial features of a snowy owl.length 4 3/8inProvenanceAlaska on Madison Gallery, New York, NY;Daniel and Martha Albrecht collection, acquired from the aboveAnother pair of goggles sharing similar design characteristics can be found in the collection of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, (object T0811) and is illustrated in Fitzhugh, William W., Hollowell, Julie, and Crowell, Aron L., editors, Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of the Bering Strait, 2009, Yale University Press, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, p. 167, fig. 6: "These elegant ivory goggles... would be relatively useless as sun shields and were more likely used as dance, ceremonial, or hunting goggles. Wooden and baleen goggles have been found at the 2,000-year-old Ekven site in Siberia and continued in use, often in semi-human animal forms among the Yup'ik and Inupiat Eskimos of Alaska."