122 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



(1403-1425), such fans having been received as part of the 

 tribute of Korea.* 



In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many most 

 beautifully painted fans were executed in France, Germany, 

 and Holland, with elaborately carved ivory sticks. Some 

 exceedingly fine specimens of these may be seen in the Berlin 

 Kunstgewerbe Museum, the collection being especially rich, 

 of course, in examples of German art, but containing also a 

 number of French fans. Typical specimens are those in 

 which the graceful and artistic painting is done on parch- 

 ment, the ivory sticks being carved in an openwork pattern. f 



An exceptionally fine bit of Chinese work is an ivory hand- 

 rest carved with representations of the 18 Lohan, or Arhats, 

 each figure identified by its symbolic animal, vehicle, or 

 other attribute. In the upper part of the design is figured 

 Maitreya, the Buddhist Messiah, on a throne supported by 

 three geniuses. The artist has taken every possible advan- 

 tage of the delicate grain and mellow tone of the material he 

 has chosen. This work probably belongs to the school of 

 the Imperial Ivory Works, founded about 1680 by Emperor 

 K'ang, within the precincts of the palace at Peking. An- 

 other more modern specimen, illustrating a different and 

 thoroughly realistic style, is the model of a Buddhist temple, 

 all the picturesque details carefully produced in the pains- 

 taking manner so characteristic of Chinese art. This model 

 is said to have been intended as a gift from the Emperor of 

 China to Josephine, wife of Napoleon, during the Consulate, 

 but it was seized on the high sea by a British warship. J 



Some of the most striking specimens of Chinese art 

 in the rich assemblage of Oriental treasures sold at the 



*Georg Buss, "Der Facher," Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1904, pp. 34, 36. Figures of Chinese 

 carved ivory fans on p. 23 and p. 25. 



fGeorg Buss, "Der Facher," Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1904; figures, among others, on pp. 

 74, 75, 83. 



JStephen W. Bushell, "Chinese Art," London, 1904, Vol. I, p. 115-118, Figs. 78, 80. 



