134 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



netsukes. Still some of them are of great merit and at the 

 same time typically Japanese.* 



As examples may be noted a spirited composition of a 

 hunter slaying an eagle. The bird, in its death struggle, 

 has grasped one of the hunter's legs with its sharp claws, 

 and defiantly awaits the coup-de-grace to be inflicted by the 

 hunter's dagger, f 



Other attractive specimens of the art are two elaborately 

 carved tusks, showing Chinese sages in a grove of bamboo. 

 This work is 13 in. high and is an exceedingly good pres- 

 entation of the Oriental scene.J More humorous, and some- 

 what in the older style, is the figure of Khensu, a Chinese 

 Buddhist priest, in the act of fishing; the figure is 8f in. high.** 

 High praise has also been bestowed upon a small cabinet by 

 the carver Tohekido Yoshi-ichi. This measures 12| by 

 lOj in. and is carved and undercut with representations of 

 quail in millet. The sides offer an imitation of basketwork.§ 



Chinese ivory carving at its best is displayed in the case 

 of a remarkable vase. The elaborate openwork carving 

 covering the entire surface of the vase offers the character- 

 istic types of Chinese decoration: sages, trees, and small 

 temples or retreats. The vessel is formed by the union of a 

 number of separate plaques of ivory so carefully adjusted to 

 one another that all trace of discontinuity is absent. 



Some of the finest and most artistic work of the Siamese 

 carvers has been shown in the elaborate decoration of entire 

 tusks, the figures being sculptured in a series of niches cut 

 in the circumference of the tusk. These niches are of highly 



*" A Japanese Collection, made by Michael Tonkins," see Vol. I, pp. 160, 161, "Ivories," 

 by Gleeson White. 

 tOp. cit., PI. IV, 48. 

 JOp. cit., PI. IV, 32. 

 **0p. cit., PL IV, 135. 

 §0p. cit., PI. IV, 272. 



