Folk Art Scrimshawed Cribbage Board

L. 15 ⅜"

A very artful work with all of the imagery relating to African animals and scenes. The tusk is almost completely covered with scrimshaw. Even most open areas are lightly scrimshawed with repeating circular designs. The main scene on the top of the tusk may be drawn from an actual episode in the artist's life. It depicts a man with his dog killing what may be a cape buffalo with his pistol. His rifle is on the ground under the animal's rear leg. The bottom of the piece has a large snake curled around a tree, a camel, a lion, a rhinoceros and at the bottom an elephant with a howdah on its back. On one side of the tusk are two birds and on the other what looks like a cheetah, a zebra and a wildebeest. This is a most unusual piece of art and may have been done by someone who had lived in southern Africa.