CHAPTER I 



PREHISTORIC AND ANCIENT 

 CARVED IVORIES 



The employment of ivory in the production of ornamental 

 objects dates back to the very earliest times. In the cave 

 dwellings of Le Moustier and La Madeleine in the Dordogne, 

 France, and in the lake dwellings of Switzerland, some ivory 

 objects and many of reindeer horn, carved and incised with 

 a remarkable degree of artistic skill, have been discovered. 

 The ivory used ornamentally at this remote period almost 

 certainly came from dead animals, as does a very considerable 

 part of the African ivory imported to-day. This easier 

 means of obtaining it was undoubtedly then as now a great 

 factor, and while the specimens preserved for us do not offer 

 any special indications as to the reasons governing the choice 

 of this material, we may well suppose that not only its rich- 

 toned, smooth surface, but also the graceful curve of the 

 tusks were determining considerations. More especially the 

 latter must have appealed to the instinctive appreciation of 

 primitive man for what Hogarth has called the *'line of 

 beauty," and this is manifest in the fondness of most primi- 

 tive peoples for curved horns of various kinds as objects 

 upon which to bestow their skill, much or little, in ornamen- 

 tal design. We must always bear in mind, however, that 

 what we are pleased to call "primitive man," when he had 

 reached the rudimentary civilization of the cave and lake 

 dwellers of France and Switzerland, had advanced, qualita- 



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