Elk's Tooth Pendant (with buffalo carving) c. mid 19th century

These Elk's Tooth Pendants, adorned with buffalo carvings, were crafted by the Pikuni (Blackfeet) people. The pendants are visually striking in their simplicity. The smooth, creamy surface of the elk's tooth serves as a canvas for the depictions of buffaloes. The contrast between the tooth and the reddish-brown pigment is fundamental. It provides a ground for the linear representation that animates the object. The very choice of an elk's tooth as a medium destabilizes conventional notions of art. Traditionally, the creation and wearing of pendants was part of a symbolic practice of cultural representation. The carved buffalo motifs are not mere decorations, but rather condense meaning through semiotic codes. They are a visual language that references the natural world and the cultural beliefs of the Pikuni. This language offers ways of understanding their relationship with the land and its resources. Notice how the pendants, as wearable art, blur the boundaries between the aesthetic and the functional, the personal and the communal, in the ongoing interpretation of the Pikuni's cultural identity.