A collection of two antique labrets. Worn exclusively by women, and inserted in the lower lip, labrets such as these two very rare and beautiful examples, were highly visible distinctive signs, contributing to beauty but also testifying to the owner's nobility, rank or status. The lower lip was pierced at the time of first menstruation, and the size of the labrets changed according to events or the number of children. The material in which they were carved was a sign of wealth and contributed to the prestige of the owner and thus of her family. The shape of these two examples, both of magnificent age, links them to the so-called Northwest Coast cultures encompassing the Haida and Tsmishian Tlingit, whose finest masks from the 18th and early 19th centuries still bear witness to this ancient tradition. Tlingit, Haida or Tsmishian, or Inupiak (Inuit), Northwest Coast, Canada or Alaska, U.S.A. Marine ivory and whalebone, old numbers inscribed in ink (RG 1489 and RG 1490), micro-wear, very fine old oxidation, and very fine old patina. L.: 5.7 and 5.6 cm Provenance : - Roland Grünewald Collection (founding member of the Société des Océanistes and former head of the Oceania collections at the Musée du Trocadéro) - Jean Roudillon Collection, acquired from him in Lorient around 1977.