A Chinese ivory and gilt silver filigree table screen, early…
click the photo to enlarge
A Chinese ivory and gilt silver filigree table screen, early 20th century, the ivory plaque incised and painted with a landscape, signed 'Zhang Fengru', marked 'Ya Meili Zu Wen', 'Gan' under the stand, 18.6 cm high

You must be a subscriber, and be logged in to view price and dealer details.

Subscribe Now to view actual auction price for this item

When you subscribe, you have the option of setting the currency in which to display prices to $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

This item has been sold, and the description, image and price are for reference purposes only.
  • 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
  • Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
  • Filigree Work - Decorative Arts - Delicate decorations using fine threads of ceramics, glass or other materials to give a lace-like effect, attached together and applied as an ornament.

This item has been included into following indexes:

Visually similar items

An Art Nouveau copper figural picture frame, satyr mask and floral vine design. 41 x 32 cm

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

A Tibetan gilt bronze figure group of Manjusri with attendants, possibly, 17th century, 28 cm high. Provenance: Oriental Antiquities, London, 1970;, Jade Galleries (Noble Brothers) Melbourne 1976

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

A rare small gilt-bronze seal/weight, late Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th century, heavily cast in the form of a snarling Buddhist lion wearing a bell, one paw resting on a ball, atop a square recessed platform, each side with a dorje in low relief between Buddhi

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

Antique French bronze ink stand, fitted with cast bronze pots and multi quill holder

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.