Ivory carving

Humans have ornamentally carved ivory since prehistoric times, though until the 19th-century opening-up of the interior of Africa, it was usually a rare and expensive material used for small luxury products.

The species of animal from which ivory comes can usually be determined by examination under ultra-violet light, where different types show different colours.

In Siberia and Arctic North America, mammoth tusks could be recovered from permafrost and used; this became a large business in the 19th century, with convicts used for much of the labour.

The 25,000-year-old Venus of Brassempouy, arguably the earliest real likeness of a human face, was carved from mammoth ivory no doubt freshly killed.

Thin ivory plaques were widely used throughout the ancient world as inlays to decorate palace furniture, musical instruments, gaming boards and other luxurious objects.

The so-called Pratt Ivories are another smaller group of furniture attachments from the early second millennium BC, from the Assyrian karum at Acemhöyük in Anatolia.

This assembly suggested a compositional arrangement with Christ or Mary in the centre and angels, apostles and saints in the flanking panels.

Western Europe also made polytychs, which by the Gothic period typically had side panels with tiers of relief narrative scenes, rather than the rows of saints favoured in Byzantine works.

Western art did not share Byzantine inhibitions about sculpture in the round: reliefs became increasing high and small statues were common, representing much of the best work.

Mirror-cases, gaming pieces, boxes and combs were among typical products, as well as small personal religious diptychs and triptychs.

The supply of African ivory contracted greatly in the later 14th century; one result was a rise in bone carving for "marriage caskets", mirror, and religious pieces.

The north Italian Embriachi workshop led this trend, supplying bone carvings even to princes and the extremely wealthy; when they used ivory it was usually hippopotamus teeth.

[10] Though the supply improved from the 16th century, ivory was never so important after the end of the Middle Ages, but continued to be used for plaques, small figures, especially the "corpus" or body on a crucifix, fans, elaborate handles for cutlery, and a great range of other objects.

[11] Scrimshaw, usually a form of engraving rather than carving, is a type of mostly naïve art practised by whalers and sailors on sperm whale teeth and other marine ivory, mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Ivory is a very suitable material for the intricate geometrical patterns of Islamic art, and has been much used for boxes, inlays in wood and other purposes.

From 750 to 1258 A.D (year of the siege and destruction of Baghdad by the mongols),[12] the Islamic world was more prosperous than the West and had more direct access to the ivory trades of both India and Africa, so Islamic use of the material is noticeably more generous than European, with many fairly large caskets, round boxes that use a full section of tusk (left), and other pieces.

Although primarily present in the Arabian peninsula, Cordoba, Spain, served as a prominent landmark for the Eastern spread of Islam under the Umayyad caliphate.

[15] The ivory caskets found on the Iberian Peninsula were likely constructed in the workshops of Madinat al-Zahra, a Umayyad palace in Cordoba.

[16] The containers were intricately carved, with motifs of hunting scenes, floral patterns, geometrical designs, and Kufic script.

Objects produced in courtly settings were made for elite political and religious figures, often proclaiming the endurance of the caliphate at that time.

[18] Pyxis of al-Mughira depicts these themes, utilizing symbolic imagery of lions, hunting, and abundant vegetal ornaments.

[21] In 1851 a throne and a footstool carved under the patronage of Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma was presented for Great London Exhibition in 1851.

A set of ivory table and chairs, displayed at Victoria Memorial, Kolkata is an exquisite example of carving done by Murshidabad carvers.

Typical example of ivory combs from the earlier period is from Kushan dynasty, discovered in Taxila, present day Pakistan.

Later, from 17th century onwards it is observed that both ends of the combs are lined with fine teeths with ornate central area consisting of female figurines and animals in bas-relief in colours.

Kimono worn by people at that time had no pockets, and they carried small things by hanging containers called sagemono and inro from obi.

[30] With the start of modernization of Japan by the Meiji Restoration in the mid-1800s, the samurai class was abolished, and Japanese clothes began to be westernized, and many craftsmen lost their demand.

The trading of ivory has become heavily restricted over recent decades, especially in the Western world, following the international CITES agreement and local legislation.

Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service announced a ban on the trade in elephant ivory within the United States by prohibiting all imports and—with narrow exceptions—exports and resales by auction houses and other dealers.

[37] On November 16, 2017, it was announced that US President Donald Trump had lifted a ban on ivory imports from Zimbabwe implemented by Barack Obama.