ORIENTAL IVORY CARVINGS 115 



Victoria. His designs embrace a considerable variety of 

 subjects, portraits of emperors, kings, queens, and princesses, 

 as well as Indian temples and palaces. Many of the paint- 

 ings are of the usual miniature size, but some of them are so 

 small as to be available for ring settings, while others, slightly 

 larger, are adapted for the adornment of brooches or other 

 ornaments. 



Were it not for the constant and extensive demand for the 

 ever-popular "bangles," and also for combs, India would not 

 have use for the ivory she retains ; unfortunately, little or no 

 artistic skill is called for in the case of the bangles, which 

 are commonly nothing more than plain rings of stained ivory, 

 without decoration of any kind. The importance of the 

 bangle trade as a whole in India may be illustrated by the 

 statement that by the 1901 census the number engaged in 

 making bangles of other materials than glass was 83,489, 

 while there were 68,840 persons engaged in the sale of such 

 bangles; for those of glass the respective figures were 75,443 

 and 112,821, making a grand total of 340,593 persons directly 

 dependent upon this industry.* 



The preference African ivory enjoys among Indian carvers 

 over that of India or Ceylon is due to the fact that it has 

 a finer grain and is less apt to turn yellow. These superior 

 qualities have been attributed to the better food procurable 

 by the African elephants. f 



Twenty years ago Burma could boast of a master ivory 

 carver, Maung Nyaing of Moulmein, but as a rule Burmese 

 work does not rank high. A curious and pretty if somewhat 

 tricky piece of art work executed by the Burmese is an ivory 

 sword handle carved in an openwork pattern of foliage and 



*Hendley, "Indian Jewellery," in the Journal of Indian Art and Industry, Vol. XII, 

 No. 98, p. 46; April, 1907. 



tConsuI Henry D. Baker of Bombay, India, "Report on Ivory and Elephants in India," 

 June 8, 1914. 



