no IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



long. Another expert Chinese carver, Lien Yu-suen, 

 showed a group of eight horses arranged in a circle, their 

 poses being very spirited and lifelike. 



The Japanese netsukes, which in their great variety of 

 designs offer the most characteristic and interesting examples 

 of Japanese ivory carving, and are eagerly sought by col- 

 lectors, are used in Japan as "toggles" or buttons, through 

 which pass the cords serving to attach to the belt the pipe 

 or the medicine or sweetmeat case. The really fine speci- 

 mens of these products of the ivory carver's art belong prin- 

 cipally to the eighteenth century, and the works quite 

 generally bear the carver's name. Some of these netsukes are 

 of walrus and occasionally boars' tusks were used. Many 

 of the artists had certain special designs in which they partic- 

 ularly excelled, and of these we may here note the following 

 as examples:* 



Anrakousai, holy personages 

 Hogitsu, children 

 Hozan, children 

 Mune-tomo, monkeys 

 Ikkouan, rats 

 Kajitomo, mushrooms 

 Mazakadzu, monkeys and rats 

 Okatomo, quails 

 Giokusai, shells 



Japanese art, offers, however, ivory carving of a higher 

 grade, though we could hardly say of greater originality 

 than the inimitable netsukes. One of the finest of these more 

 ambitious carvings is the decoration in relief by a Japanese 

 carver of a large tusk, having a diameter of 7 in., which 

 was shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exliibition of 

 1876 in the Egyptian Department and was acquired by the 

 Japanese. The artist selected for his theme the embarka- 



*Alfred Maskell, "Ivories," London, 1905, pp. 344 sqq. 



