IVORY-CARVING. Under this head must he included sculpture in bone. in vegetable. in wal rus or narwhal ivory, and in fossil ivory, as well as that carved in the ivory of the elephant. It is. therefore, the whole subject of delicate anal minute ornamental carving, except as done in wood and in fine hard stones. Pieces of reindeer horn, as well as hone, are found with ineised carvings on them under prehistoric remains; but horn is not often cut with the sharp tool for decorative purposes; it is usually softened and molded. In Egyptian tombs there have been found statuettes, handles of boxes, and the like, very delicately sculptured; and others have been found in Nineveh, especially tablets carved with significant figures in low relief. Some of the Egyptian pieces were of a time as early as 2000 Esc.; those of Nineveh, of the tenth century B.C. The most famous use of ivory in antiquity was in connection with the ehrysele phantine (q.v.) statues, of which, however, no remains are left.
There are many carved ivories of the later Roman Imperial time; consular diptychs and other tablets for writing, with bas-reliefs at the top and on the back. The history of sculpture during the times of degeneration from the fourth to the eighth century can hest be studied by means of these small but highly finished works. Under the Byzantine emperors the diptychs were still made, and there was much use of ivory in book-covers, as in the later Middle Ages.
The earlier Middle Ages used oblong caskets, made of solid blocks of ivory on the exterior, or of bone; or. in some cases, made of wood, which was concealed by the carved plates of ivory which cover the exterior. The backs of mirrors also and mirror-cases were made of this material, and elaborately carved throughout the Middle Ages. Purely devotional objects, too. were made. such as shrines, tabernacles, and the like; aud dip tychs mounted with silver or silver-gilt hinges and clasps were manufactured for travelers, in which the preferred scenes and incidents were represented: thus, one might be devoted to the Passion of Christ, and another to the legend of some saint. The heads of pastoral staves and
crosiers are sometimes of this material and elaborately carved. The finest pieces of medieval work in these materials are. however. the ad mirable statuettes, such as those of the Madonna holding the Child, one of which. small hut of exquisite workmanship, is in the South Ken sington Museum: while another, perhaps the fin est ivory carving known, is in the sacristy of the little Church of Saint Pons. at Villeneuve-Ies Avignon on the Rhine. This astonishing piece is admirably adorned with delicate painting and gilding; it is of unusually great size, and belongs to the finest sculpture of the fourteenth century.
A few pieces pf carved ivory and hone of Sara eenic or Moorish work have reached Europe; but of Asiatic art, by far the hest known and the most valuable is that of China and Japan. Japanese art seems indeed to have followed its strong predilection for minuteness in undertak ing the artistic treatment of very small masses of these hard materials. The little netsukes are more often of ivory than of any other substance, and their almost infinite variety and their spirited character are well known. Less known are the highly wrought boxes carved with re liefs, both high and low, and adorned with little figures in the round which serve as knobs for the cover, or even for the feet of the pieee.
In modern Europe, beginning with the six teenth century, portraits in relief were common: these being carved in ivory with great fineness. and sometimes delicately colored in the costume, the eves and hair, and the accessories. The whole school of ivory-car•ing is known by the name of 'Dieppe ivories.' these being generally of the eighteenth century, and most commonly portrait busts or statuettes of mythological or Christian subject. Consult: Wyatt, Notices of Neu1ptare in Ivory (London, 1856) ; Slaskell, Ivories, Ancient and McdiaTal (ib., 1875) ; Graeven, Friihchrist liche and mittclaitcrli•he Elfcnbcinicerke (Vien na, 1901).