XXXI 



IVORY 



399 



large buttons : 



Ivory work attained great perfection among the 

 Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus. It is 

 a curious fact that next to religious 

 objects some of the most exquisite ex- 

 amples of ivory-car ving are chessmen, 

 and many beautiful examples come from 

 China. Favourite subjects among the 

 ivory carvers of India are the gods 

 worshipped by the Hindus. 



The Japanese ivory-carvers are best 

 known in the Western world by their 

 skill in producing clever, ingenious and 

 often life-like figures of animals in their 

 well-known nitsuke or 

 some of them 

 a r e m a d e 

 from the tusk 

 of the nar- 

 whal, and 

 tourists are 

 often invited 

 to buy them 

 on the ground 

 that they are 

 made from 

 the horn of 

 the unicorn. 



Ivory is 

 also employ- 

 ed as an inlay 

 material for 

 fancy tables, 

 and it has 



even 



1 ' '^~ll* ^ ie nat ' ves f East Africa and the Congo Forest 



USed 111 DUlK ta^liion trumpets from tusks. A powerful man can 



for the CO11- make a great noise with one. On the West Coast 



they are used in fetisli worship. (British Museum. ) 



struction of 



ehairs and thrones. Solomon's "Great throne of 



