IVORY CARVINGS 83 



DUPON, JOSUE, Born at Western Flanders (Belgium), May 22, 1864. 



Works : ' ' Diane, ' ' statuette ; 



" La Perle," statuette; 



' ' Belluaire, ' ' statuette ; 



"Sainte Vierge," statuette; 



"Toilette," statuette; 



Van Berchen, statuette; 



"Phryne," statuette; 



" Saint John," bust; 



"Judith," bust; 



Portrait of M. S., plaquette; 



Portrait of M, B., plaquette; 



Portrait of Mile. B., plaquette. 



The following figures show the quantity of ivory placed 

 at the disposal of artists wishing to execute chryselephantine 

 work by the Government of the Belgian Congo in 1912 and 

 1913: 



Number of tusks delivered 9 



Weight in kilograms 467 . 9 



Quantity returned (kilograms) 287 . 3 



Quantity used (kilograms) 180. 



Ivory amulets, though not usual, are sometimes to be 

 found, even in our own day, one having been picked up in 

 Madrid not long since by Mr. W. L. Hildburgh, who has 

 made a special study of Spanish amulets. The form given 

 the ivory, which is painted red, and set in a silver locket, is 

 that of the so-called "fig-hand," so common in Roman times 

 and still a favourite form among the Italians. Its primal 

 significance is rather unsavoury, but in later use (and prob- 

 ably to a great extent with the Romans also) its virtue is 

 that of a protection against the Evil Eye. In its origin this 

 hand is a female emblem, while the horn is a masculine one. 

 Another *' hand-amulet" used against the Evil Eye and 



