A Chinese ivory figurine, the goddess Kuanyin holding a flower…
click the photo to enlarge
A Chinese ivory figurine, the goddess Kuanyin holding a flower branch and flower basket, on turned wood base. Height 24 cm

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

Visually similar items

A large carved ivory figure of an Oriental lady, depicted playing a musical instrument, a small repair. Height 31 cm (incl. Stand)

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

Carved ivory figure of standing fisherman with catch, 25.5 cm height (repair to hat)

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

An antique ivory Chinese Guanyin, Republic era, first half 20th century, well carved and pierced depicting an elegantly posed Guanyin in draping attire and coiffed hair, holding a fly whisk in her left hand and a trailing branch of prunus blossom in her ri

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

A pair of Chinese ivory figures of female immortals, late Qing Dynasty, with phoenix headdress, one holding a lute, the other one holding a floral branch, 34 and 33.5 cm high, fitted wooden bases

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