IVORIES. On account of the fineness of its grain, warm tone, the polish it easily ac quires, its adaptability to carving, and its in corruptibility, ivory has been a favored medium for plastic art work from the very earliest times. In ancient Egyptian and Assyrian re liefs we see representations of conquered Ethiopians 'bringing elephant tusks as tribute. In Egypt and Mesopotamia have been found ivory carvings of idols and utensils. But the oldest graphic work on ivory extant is pre historic and derived from the when elephants inhabited Europe. Such pieces have been discovered in caves in the Dordogne (France), others in Switzerland. In cised on these pieces of tusk are outlines of reindeer, mammoths, etc. In the Grotte du Pape (France) was found the carved torso of a woman; and so on. In the museums at Lon don, Paris, Cairo, etc., are goodly collections of ivory work done in the early Dynasties of the Egyptians. Two specimens in the Louvre are supposed to be a pair of clappers or castanets; one has rudely incised outlines of figures; the other has a head carved in relief and its extremity is carved in the shape of a beautifully formed hand. The British Museum has two daggers ornamented and inlaid with ivory dating back to the Pharaoh of the Exodus; in the Louvre are a small vase, spoons, toilet boxes, etc. Next in date are pieces from Assyria, of which 50 remarkable pieces of ivory from Nineveh are in the British Museum; they were taken from the ruins of the Palace of Nimrod and have evi dently suffered badly from fire. In the col lection are fragments of winged sphinxes, plaques from a throne or couch, probably; a lions head, portions of bulls' bodies, human heads, hands, legs, etc. Other museums have daggers, sword handles, sceptres, musical in struments etc. The ancient Greeks used ivory on their large statues putting gold on the marble form for clothing and ivory for the flesh parts — they called the work nothing is extant but the records. The Roman consular diptychs are the earliest refined ivory carving existing, with few exceptions. Prob ably of the 3d century A.D. is the beautiful statuette of Penthea in Cluny Museum; it is 15 inches high. The ancient head of a woman in the Vienna Museum is of fine workmanship, nearly half natural size. Found in Etruscan tombs (Chiusi and Calvi) are a few ivory examples dating, probably, back to the 4th century B.C., such as a Gorgon head with eyes of
gold inlaid, horses' heads, lions, parts of mirrors and caskets, a large bust of a woman, all in the style of Greek art. And the Greeks used ivory, for Homer, in his Odyssey, speaks of the artisan Icmalios, goldsmith of Ithaca, making a chair of ivory and silver on which Penelope sat. Solomon's throne appears 'to have been of ivory. The Roman curulean chairs were frequently of ivory. Most noted of the early Roman carved ivories arc the "diptychs ° or writing tablets; they consisted of two tablets folding over one another and fastened together loosely on one side. Their carved external sides give a representation of a consul, scenes of public games, fights, etc., the inner side being plain and covered with wax on which to write notes with the style; they measured about 12 inches by 5 or 6, and were strong and thick. The most important, perhaps, of the early diptychs extant is that in the Liverpool Mayer Museum; its lower bas-re lief depicts men fighting stags in the arena, above are three persons in a gallery. It has been attributed to the 3d century. Another early diptych (the other may not have been consular) extant is that dedicated to Marcus Aurelius Romulus Caesar (308 A.D.), in the British Museum; it represents a funeral pro cession and above is the apotheosis of the con sul driven in a four-horse chariot to Heaven. Altogether about 50 diptychs dedicated to con suls are extant. Some are to the following: Consul Rufus Probianus (322 A.D.), typically seated with scribes attendant; Amicius (406) ; Flavius Felix (428 A.D.) ; respectively in Berlin, Aosta and Paris. Of the consul Arco bindus (506) no less than eight diptychs are extant. A number of existing diptychs were carved for private individuals, and these are often superior, as works of art, to those carved for consular adulation. Three lovely early diptych specimens are known as the Bellerophon, Aesculapius and Hygyeia, and the Bacchantes, in the museum at Kensington and that of Liver pool. They are of beautiful workmanship, and belong to those usually designated as "classical diptychs." An ivory curule chair and ivory sceptre were frequently given by the Roman Senate to tributary sovereigns.