Ivory carving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ivory carving is the ornamentation of ivory by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually.
Humans have ornamentally carved ivory since prehistoric times, and much of the prehistoric work reveals information about the use of tools during the carving's time period. The ivory figure of Khufu, for the builder of the Great Pyramid, is considered a masterpiece. Ivory carvings have been discovered in the tombs of ancient Chinese rulers. Since the late Roman era ivory has been a popular medium for Christian art. Many boxes, that held religious relics, or costly jewelry were made of ivory. The ivory was usually obtained from the tusks of live elephants in India, and in Roman times, from North Africa. Ivory harvesting led to the extinction, or near-extinction of elephants in much of their former range.
Much of ivory carved in the last 200 years has been for East Asian jewelry and ethnic crafts. Large amounts of ivory continues to be consumed for East Asian traditional art and ethnic hand stamp dies, even in the face of near-extinction of African and Asian elephants.
Ivory has been gradually replaced by plastics in key commercial application such as piano keys.
Very little ivory carving is done in the United States since the middle 20th century, as a result of extinction concerns.
[edit] Historical sources of ivory for carving
listed in order of importance
- Elephant ivory from recently killed animals
- Prehistoric mammoth ivory traded from Siberia
- Sperm Whale teeth, usually left intact as scrimshaw
- Walrus tusks
 Late Roman box  |
 Late Roman diptychs |
 Ivory Madonna from the Middle Ages |
 Medieval diptych |
