Carved Chinese Ivory Mystery Ball on Stand
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.
- 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
This item has been included into following indexes:
Visually similar items
A Chinese ivory puzzle ball, Republic era, early 20th century, the approximately six layer puzzle ball finely carved with dragons and floral forms, supported by three elephants standing upon their back legs to a circular stand, with a turned pedestal and l
A Paris Porcelain hand painted banquet lamp/vase, duplex burner with milk glass shade 69 cm high
A pair of Blanc-de-Chine glazed porcelain table lamps, each with fluted shaped bases, knopped stems to urns filled with applied fruits and leaves with two cupids holding a smaller pedestal and fruit filled urn. Height 58 cm
An early 20th century Italian carved alabaster and marble figural lamp, by P. Conti carved with three winged putti holding a large circular dome with engraved lion frieze above their heads, mounted on a triform plinth base with lions paw feet, signed to th