86 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



Another use, and one that has endured for many centuries, 

 is the employment of ivory for fan sticks, either plain or 

 more often delicately carved. The most notable relic of this 

 kind is a fan of purple vellum with ivory sticks, the gift of 

 Queen Theodolinda to the Cathedral of Monza, and still 

 preserved there as one of the chief treasures. 



It may be interesting to note that the set of turquoise be- 

 longing to another queen, the unhappy Marie Antoinette, 

 and sold with the other French crown jewels in 1888, proved 

 to be not true turquoise but the mineral known as odontolite, 

 or fossil ivory, naturally stained by iron phosphate. 



The following practical directions as to the protection of 

 ivory paintings, so that they may long preserve the delicate 

 beauty they exhibit when fresh from the artist's hand, have 

 been kindly supplied by one of our most gifted miniaturists : 



The back of an ivory miniature painting should be kept as 

 it comes from the ivory merchant — that is, nothing should 

 be fastened, gummed, or glued to its back. Any white or 

 cream-coloured paper, and free from arsenic, is then placed 

 loosely against it. Whatman's hot-pressed, or steinbach 

 papers are entirely safe. In setting an ivory plaque into 

 its frame or bezel, it is advisable to insert a narrow rim of 

 flat metal to keep it from being pressed against the glass. 

 This rim or mat has the special advantage of hiding the 

 outer edge of the ivory where it is cut narrower than the 

 frame or bezel containing it. Ivory, like wood, expands 

 and contracts laterally, making it necessary to cut all ivory 

 paintings perhaps three per cent, narrower, laterally, than 

 the frame may be; unless this is done, a close-fitting ivory 

 will surely buckle, in time. The cutting of ivory less than the 

 thickness of two ordinary visiting cards can be done with 

 any ordinary scissors. This cutting must be done with the 

 grain, and in narrow bits which readily split away or crum- 

 ble. Moreover, all cutting must be from side centres up- 



