The art of bone carving has been well-known in the northern regions of Russia (Yakutia, Chukotka) since ancient times. Archaeologists suppose that the earliest known works in this technique were created over 2.000 years ago. 

The 19th century was the golden age of this art in Yakutia. The artists mostly made everyday objects: carved jewel-cases, accessory boxes, and combs. Other popular objects were chess from mammoth bone, powder flasks and figurines of animals. Such things cost a lot of money and were considered luxury items. 

Now, in the 21st century, there are several artists in Yakutia that continue the traditions of the national decorative and applied arts. One of these modern bone carvers is Mikhail Sleptsov. The main subject of his art is nature and the people of tundra. He works with minor forms, carving miniature sculptures from mammoth bone. In 2016, Sleptsov received the top award of the pan-Russian festival The Art of Bone Carving of Russia’s Peoples. 

Sleptsov gives specific features to each one of his miniatures: he strives to achieve sharpness and clarity of lines and to make the sculpture look 'alive'. For this purpose, he chooses the most expressive poses of the animal, a typical leg position, and stresses the transitions between the torso, the neck and the head, subtly playing with the varying shades of grey of the buckhorn. 

Sleptsov created 'The Traveller' in 2001. Here, we can see a Northerner sitting on the back of a deer. The artist used buckhorn as the material for his work and applied brown toning to some elements of the miniature, such as the traveller’s clothes and the saddle cover. 

The deer is an important animal for the Sakha people. Indigenous peoples of the North domesticated this animal many centuries ago, and for a long time, it has served them as the main source of milk, meat, wool, horns and bones. Deer were also used as a means of transportation. 

The man is dressed in typical clothes for the severe Northern climate. On his head, we can see a round cap called 'chompoy'. It was made from the summer skins of the deer or a heavy cloth with a cotton wool lining. On the sides, the cap was trimmed with thick fur to protect its owner from snow. 

In his works, Sleptsov addresses the life of the North, showing himself as an attentive connoisseur of  the local people’s everyday life and the world of animals. In the soft outlines of 'The Traveller', riding calmly across the tundra, one can clearly see the flat silhouette and the graphics, the distinctive features of ancient ritual sculpture. That is how, in the artist’s works, the modern tradition meets the principles of national culture. This synthesis is what lies at the heart of Sleptsov’s creations.