

From ancient times ivory has been considered an article of luxury because of its qualities of fine grain, creamy light colour, smooth texture, and soft lustre. Ivory has been carved in such widely varied cultures as those of ancient Egypt, China, Japan, and India. In the West the use of ivory can be traced almost continuously from prehistoric times through the Roman, Carolingian, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods up until modern times.

Until about 1900 all ivory carvers used much the same tools: an ax, adz, or chisel for removing the outer bark, or rind, from the tusk; a bucksaw or bow saw for cutting the trunk of the tusk into sections; a special tool called a float for paring the surface; and hand chisels, fretsaws, and gauges for actually carving the piece. The great change came with power-driven rotary saws for cutting and peeling the ivory and with dental drills for carving it easily and quickly. These machine tools spread from Europe to Asia in the mid-20th century and are now in universal use for carving ivory.

Ancient Western carvings

Carvings made of ivory, bone, and horn are numerous from certain periods of the Stone Age. Most of the carvings have been found in southern France, particularly in the Dordogne region. The earlier examples take the form of small nude female figures. The carvings of animals belong to the succeeding Magdalenian period, and many of these have great merit. The material used is reindeer horn, with the ivory of mammoth tusks also occasionally used. The incising, or engraving, of ivory probably developed later than carving in the round. The prehistoric engravings on ivory usually represent animals, often rendered in a masterly manner and combined to form scenes.

Elephant tusks and hippopotamus teeth were carved from a very early period in ancient Egypt. Many combs, hairpins, and other utensils dating from the predynastic and early dynastic periods have been found at various sites, and to the same period probably belong some crudely carved nude female figures that were likely worn as amulets to ward off evil or harm. Among the masterpieces of early Egyptian carving are two statuettes, both found at Abydos; one represents a king of the 1st dynasty, while the other depicts the 4th-dynasty king Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza. The Egyptians also incised pictures on flat slabs of ivory, and sometime after 3000 BCE they introduced the technique of relief carving. Later Egyptian ivory work, much of it of fine quality, is mostly decorative in intention, being used for handles, spoons, and inlays for caskets and furniture.

The ancient Phoenicians used ivory from Syria and Africa, and they seem to have specialized in ivory inlays for woodwork, often overpainted or encrusted with lapis lazuli or glass. Among the earliest preclassical Aegean ivory carvings are small figures of acrobats found at Knossos in Crete and dating from the 16th century BCE. Many ivory gaming boxes, mirror handles, and plaques carved in low relief with hunting or combat scenes have been found at Cyprus and at Sparta and Mycenae; they show a strong Asian stylistic influence and were probably made in Syria or on the south coast of Asia Minor.

No ivories of importance belonging to the early Classical period of Greece have survived, though it is known from ancient writers that they existed. The high point of Classical ivory carving was most certainly the colossal chryselephantine statues (i.e., ones partly made of ivory and gold) sculpted by Phidias in the 5th century BCE; the statue depicting a seated Zeus was in the temple at Olympia, and a statue of a standing Athena was in the Parthenon at Athens. In the last centuries of the Roman Empire, ivory diptychs (i.e., a relief carved on two tablets connected by a hinge) were issued by the Roman emperors, by consuls upon their taking office each year, and by patrician families to celebrate a marriage.

Post-Classical Western carving

The most important surviving ivory carving from early in the Common Era is the Brescia casket (4th century CE); this is a small casket bearing relief carvings of scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Several reliefs on diptychs and panels having Christian subjects date from this period, and indeed depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Apostles form the main subject matter of European figurative ivory carvings for many centuries thereafter. No Byzantine ivory from the 7th to the 9th century survives, but there do exist several magnificent carved ivory reliefs from the 10th and 11th centuries. The figures are treated in a strongly classicizing, frozen, and monumental style. Byzantine statuettes from the late 11th and the 12th centuries show a more relaxed and fluid treatment of draperies, and their figures have elongated forms.

Northern European ivory carving revived during the Carolingian Renaissance, using walrus instead of elephant tusks. The Carolingians carved ivory into reliquaries, crucifixes, relief panels, and the book covers of psalters. New Testament scenes and figures were the almost invariable subject matter. These traditions continued during the Ottonian period of the 10th century, with several impressive situlae (holy-water buckets) carved with scenes from Christ’s life having survived. Romanesque ivory carvings of reliquaries, tau crosses, and bishops’ pastoral staffs display a multiplicity of styles, depending on the country of origin. During the Romanesque and the succeeding Gothic period, the West’s artistic emphasis shifted from the decoration and embellishment of sacred objects to the building of cathedrals, monumental paintings, and stained glass. Thus, from about the 12th century on, ivory carving ceased to be a major art or an important adjunct to religious or imperial liturgies. Nevertheless, ivory diptychs and triptychs carved with religious scenes continued to be produced in the Gothic style by many workshops. Ivory was also carved into caskets, combs, mirror cases, writing tablets, cups, dagger handles, and chess pieces. Sometimes scenes of courtly love or extracts from romances were carved onto the surface of these utilitarian objects.

Renaissance ivory carving marked a notable change from that of the Middle Ages in its technical sophistication and sensitivity. By this time ivory was rarely used except for domestic articles and inlay work, but there was a revival of interest in ivory carving in 17th-century Germany and Flanders, and many elaborate and sumptuously carved objects such as candelabra, plaques, statuettes, and drinking tankards were made by highly skilled artists. By the late 18th century, ivory carvings were regarded in Europe merely as curious and quaint decorative objects. In the 19th century, ivory came into prominence once more, chiefly for making forgeries of older, more valuable ivory objects. It was also used to make caskets, clock cases, and batons, as well as humbler objects such as snuffboxes, fan handles, and scent bottles. By the 20th century, with the use of machine-driven tools to cut ivory and the decay of unified stylistic traditions of decoration, ivory carving in the West had degenerated into a craft still possessed of technical sophistication but almost utterly lacking in aesthetic worth.

East Asian carving

Ivory carving is one of China’s oldest arts, and examples of skillfully carved ivory have been found in the tombs of the Shang dynasty (c. 16th century–1046 BCE) kings; these pieces are so well designed and executed that they suggest a long previous development, probably going back to prehistoric times. In ancient China elephants still roamed the forests of the Huang He (Yellow River) region, so that the supply of ivory was close at hand. At the court of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) it became fashionable for princes and high officials to carry narrow memorandum tablets of ivory. Called hu, these were generally worn as girdle pendants. In the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) these ivory tablets came to be considered as marks of rank and were required for formal dress. Later, during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and the Song dynasty (960–1279), these tablets were greatly elongated and were carried by court officials as a kind of sceptre as well as a writing surface for memoranda. The tablets continued to be carried as a mark of high court rank until the fall of the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. Some ivory figurines have also survived from these periods in Chinese history. Other carvings consist of flat ivory pieces that were painted or stained a dark colour and then carved to form intricate patterns of birds and animals or geometric figures, the carvings finally being stained with other colours or left plain.

By Song dynasty times the elephants had been driven far into the wilderness areas of southwest China (modern Yunnan), which then belonged to another nation, the kingdom of Nanzhao. Accordingly, new sources of ivory were sought overseas, and at this time the first African elephant tusks were brought from Zanzibar to China by Arab traders. The new nationalistic-minded Ming dynasty, after overthrowing the Mongol Yuan dynasty, proceeded in the 14th century to revive the art of ivory carving, and a renaissance of fine craftsmanship resulted. The Ming ivory carvings that have survived are mostly handsomely carved figures, not stained or painted but having the natural colouring of ivory. The tradition of fine Ming carving seems to have carried over into the first half of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The art of colouring ivory was revived at this time, and both stains and lacquers were used to enhance the delicately carved figures that many connoisseurs have considered the finest productions of the Chinese carvers’ art. Workshops in Beijing and Guangzhou (Canton) were the main centres of ivory carving, producing figures, singly or in groups; cylindrical brush boxes, table screens, and armrests and other desk fittings carved in low and high relief; sceptres; snuff bottles, snuff dishes, and accessories for opium smoking; stands for fine porcelains; and perfume boxes, mirror cases, and other toilet articles for court ladies. Shanghai workshops produced such utilitarian objects as chopsticks, Mah-Jongg sets, combs, and seals.

Beijing and Guangzhou continued to be centres for the finest Chinese ivory carving until after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. In subsequent years the output declined, resulting from the lack of Imperial patronage. From that time on, the industry was devoted chiefly to supplying foreign residents and tourists with ivory canes, card cases, and other objects. Because these buyers were not discriminating, the quality, which had been declining after the mid-19th century, deteriorated at an accelerating pace.

It is not possible to claim any great antiquity for ivory carving in Japan. Although they learned the art rather late, the Japanese ivory carvers of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) quickly developed an astonishing mastery of this medium and created many miniature works of art that still excite admiration. Ivory was used in Japan to produce such objects as the plectrum for plucking the strings of the samisen and the ends of the rollers for traditional scroll paintings. Its major artistic use, however, was for the togglelike pieces called netsukesnetsuke, which formed an indispensable item of men’s costumes in the Tokugawa period. Netsukes Netsuke were used to fasten the medicine box (inro) and pipe and tobacco pouches to a man’s sash. They were often delicate and exquisitely carved miniature figures, landscapes, or animals. With the end of the Tokugawa regime in 1867, new customs of dress, and the introduction of the cigarette shortly after, netsukes netsuke became obsolete. Their former carvers, like the Chinese, gradually turned to making things for foreign residents and tourists, producing jewel boxes, chests, card cases, chess pieces, buttons, brooches, and other objects to appeal to Victorian tastes. By about 1900, endless repetition and the use of machine tools for mass production had destroyed the remaining elements of the art. From that time on, most Japanese ivory carving has been directed toward the copying of old netsukesnetsuke, complete with signatures of dead artists, and the forging of Chinese ivory antiquities.

Other carving traditions

From the time of Muhammad or before, ivory was used extensively in the Middle East and in Muslim-ruled Spain to decorate furniture, doors, caskets, and minbars (pulpits). The decoration consisted of geometric and plant-form arabesques, sometimes inhabited by birds and animals.

Ivory was always plentiful in India, but few carved ivory pieces have survived to illustrate the art during most of the 4,000 years it has been practiced there. Some Hindu and Buddhist figures carved in the round are extant, along with little boxes and some reliefs.

The early Inuit, or Eskimo, of northern North America lacked most useful metals, and so they fashioned the ivory from walrus tusks and buried mammoth tusks into a variety of utilitarian objects, such as bucket handles, bow drills, pipes, harpoon shafts, and needle cases. They etched these objects with geometric or gracefully curving patterns of fine lines. Another type of ivory carving is that of scrimshaw, which is the decoration of whales’ teeth or walrus tusks with various designs and images, carried out by whalers in the United States during the 19th century.