Carved Wooden Bear Figure

An Ainu carved wooden figure. One of three carved wooden bears [E433542-E433544], including a “mother” bear and two “cubs”, collected by Carl Etter (1898-1982) sometime between 1931-32 while he was doing fieldwork on Ainu culture and folklore, probably in Hokkaido or in Ainu Country. This catalog number is a "cub bear". The other cub is E433543 and the mother is E433542. The bear is carved wood, painted black with accents carved further to expose the natural wood color. Unlike the other two bears, this one does not have glass beads for eyes (missing?). The bear's face is looking upward.