ORIENTAL IVORY CARVINGS 121 



tion of Yoshitsume, a heroic figure in Japanese history, who 

 left Japan and went into voluntary exile rather than plunge 

 his country into the miseries of a civil war by resisting the 

 oppression of an ungrateful brother whose throne he had 

 assured.* 



What is asserted to be perhaps the largest ivory carving 

 ever executed is a figure of Buddha by the Japanese carver 

 Ichikawa Komei; this was shown in the Chicago Exposition 

 of 1893. 



A most interesting and valuable Japanese publication 

 illustrates in a very thorough and satisfactory manner the 

 various processes employed by the ivory carver in trans- 

 figuring a section of tusk into a finished statuette or other 

 artistic form. Alongside of the design representing the 

 completed work is given in outline the piece of tusk on which 

 the artist is about to exercise his skill. Within the outline 

 of the yet unworked ivory is traced that of the figure to be 

 produced, and this enables us to appreciate the judgment 

 and ingenuity displayed by the artist in utilizing the special 

 form of the material at his disposal. Other plates show the 

 various stages of working the block and some of the tools 

 used in shaping it. This valuable and original book will be 

 more fully described in a succeeding chapter. 



The carved ivory fans made by the Chinese are remark- 

 able for the delicacy of workmanship displayed. The design 

 is usually executed in very low relief and then the uncarved 

 portion of the surface is cut through into a beautiful open- 

 work pattern. Thus all heaviness is successfully banished, 

 the fan being almost as light and airy as the element it wafts 

 over its owner's face. Chinese tradition teaches that a 

 native of Tamba province invented the fan in the reign of 

 Emperor Ten-ji (668-672 A.D.); the folding-fan, however, 

 was only introduced much later, in the reign of Kungo-lo 



♦Oriental Collection of W. T. Walters, p. 94. 



