IVORY CARVINGS 95 



bust of this monarch, made out of a number of separate 

 pieces of Belgian Congo ivory skilfully put together. This is 

 a work of the sculptor, Thomas Vingotte, and is preserved in 

 the great "Colonial Museum" of Tervueren. A copy of 

 this bust in marble is to be seen in the Victoria and Albert 

 Museum in London. 



In the days when whaling vessels were absent from port 

 from one to three years, it frequently happened that the men 

 from New England who manned them had a great propensity 

 for carving or etching. Some of them possessed considerable 

 artistic instinct, and in unoccupied moments they would 

 practise their art upon whale and walrus teeth, or on the 

 bones of the whale's jaw. Sometimes their subjects would 

 be scenes of places seen on the voyage, but more frequently 

 they carved into the bone the faces of mothers, sisters, sweet- 

 hearts, and wives. The work was often remarkably well 

 done, and was known in sailor's slang as "scrimshaw work." 

 The instruments were usually a sail-maker's needle inserted 

 in a wooden handle, or a finely sharpened jackknife. When 

 the carving was finished they rubbed a black fluid into it, 

 either a dark fluid coming from the cuttlefish, or else ink. 

 Collections of these carvings, or rather etchings, are to be 

 found in the museum in New Bedford, in the Historical 

 Society's museum in Newport, and in the collections of 

 Gouverneur Morris, Mrs. William Rockefeller, A. N. Bea- 

 dleston, and many others, where excellent examples are pre- 

 served. 



Although the art has never been cultivated in the United 

 States as it has been in some parts of Europe, we have 

 nevertheless had a few very good ivory carvers here, among 

 whom Mr. F. R. Kaldenberg deserves special mention. 

 The fact that his father was engaged in the manufacture 

 of goods made of ivory, as well as of amber, meerschaum, 

 and many other materials, brought him in contact with 



