ORIENTAL IVORY CARVINGS 117 



The gradual dying out of the art of ivory carving in Assam 

 since the cessation of the rule of the Ahom rajahs is attrib- 

 uted to the consequent removal of the incentives due to 

 direct royal patronage, assuring regular occupation and a 

 stated salary or recompense to the individual carvers. 

 Moreover, the main sources of supply for ivory have been 

 cut off by the strict enforcement of the Elephant Preserva- 

 tion Act, as now only the tusks of dead elephants found in 

 the jungle are available, while in former days a plentiful 

 supply of ivory was secured from the elephant herds kept by 

 the rajahs, as well as from the tusks of wild elephants slaugh- 

 tered by hunters. 



The art of ivory carving must have stood high in Ceylon 

 in the seventeenth century, for it is related that at that time 

 a native artist of this island executed in ivory a crucifix a 

 yard in length, the work being done in such a masterly style 

 that the hair, beard, and face of the Christ appeared those of 

 a living being. So accurately proportioned was the whole 

 carving, and so wonderfully were all the details worked out, 

 that it far surpassed anything of the kind executed in Europe. 

 For this reason the Catholic bishop (of Goa.^^) had the carving 

 enclosed in a costly casing and sent it to the King of Spain as 

 a great rarity well deserving a prominent place among his 

 treasures.* 



The finest Cinghalese ivory carving is done at Point de 

 Galle, or Galle, as it is called in Ceylon, and here many 

 highly artistic ivories have been produced, the designs being 

 in some cases derived from specimens of old Buddhist art 

 and in others inspired by scenes of the life of to-day in Ceylon, 

 At the St. Louis Exposition, in 1904, Messrs. D. F. de Silva 

 & Co. and Mr. Abdul Caffoor exhibited some wonderful, 

 gem-encrusted ivory elephants, and in a great many instances 



*S. de Vries, "Curieuse Aenmerckingen der bysonderste Oost en West-Indische Ver- 

 wonderenswaerdige Dingen," Utrecht, 1682, Pt. IV, p. 839. 



