Chinese Carved Ivory Three Section Tower with Dragon Faces
A large Chinese carved ivory three section tower, raised on three legs with ball and claw feet and dragon faces to the top, the bottom section carved with a phoenix carrying deities in a forest to one side, the other side with musicians amongst the forest, the second section carved in an open, pierced pattern of vines with four dragon faces to the top holding captured ring handles in their teeth, the top section forms the lid carved into an adult foo dog with baby, the base section has a handle to each side carved in the form of a dragon with captured ring handles in the mouth, old damage, height 19.69 in.
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- Ivory - Ivory is a hard white material that comes from the tusks of elephants, mammoth, walrus and boar, or from the teeth of hippopotamus and whales. The ivory from the African elephant is the most prized source of ivory. Although the mammoth is extinct, tusks are still being unearthed in Russia and offered for sale.
Ivory has been used since the earliest times as a material for sculpture of small items, both in Europe and the east, principally China and Japan.
In Asia ivory has been carved for netsuke, seals, okimono, card cases, fan supports, animals and other figures and even as carved tusks.
In the last 200 years in Europe ivory has been used to carve figures, for elaborate tankards, snuff boxes, cane handles, embroidery and sewing accessories, in jewellery and as inlay on furniture. Its more practical uses include being used for billiard balls, buttons, and a veneers on the top of piano keys.
The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to Due to the decline in elephant populations because of the trade in ivory, the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 1975, and in January 1990, the African elephant was similarly listed. Under Appendix One, international trade in Asian or African elephant ivory between member countries is forbidden. Unlike trade in elephant tusks, trade in mammoth tusks is legal.
Since the invention of plastics, there have been many attempts to create an artificial ivory
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