Ivory Carving: Everything You Need to Know

Ivory carving has a prehistoric and antique value of its own. Elephant tusk ivory and the fossil mammoth tusk ivory has been valued since ancient times for the creation of small sculptures. Carvers can achieve great artistic and emotional expressiveness in a compressed form because of the fine cutting edges. The surface is polished to make it alluring to touch. Ivory crafts have always been considered as a luxury article because of its qualities of fine grain, creamy light color, smooth texture, and soft luster. Carved ivory is used in numerous forms such as, décor, sculpture, ornament, or any utilitarian article like book covers for treasure bindings on the most precious illuminated manuscripts, handles, spoons, and inlays for caskets and furniture.

 The Origin

Medieval art history of Europe and Byzantium consider ivory carving as special because it has no bullion value and is not easily recycled like precious metals or jewels. Ivory carvings are in existence from Stone Age and most of them were found in southern France, particularly in the Dordogne region. Elephant tusks and hippopotamus teeth were carved from a very early period in ancient Egypt. Many combs, hairpins, and other utensils dating from the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods have been found at various sites. 

In 1900, ivory carvers started using tools such as, ax, adz, or chisel for removing the outer bark, or rind, from the tusk; a bucksaw or bow saw for cutting the trunk of the tusk into sections; a special tool called a float for paring the surface; hand chisels, fretsaws, and gauges for actually carving the piece; power-driven rotary saws for cutting and peeling the ivory; dental drills for carving it easily and quickly. 

The Sources of Ivory

As we know that ivory carving is a term used for the carving of animal tooth or tusk, using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually, so you can derive the main sources for this carving which are but not limited to:
•    Elephant tusks
•    Walrus tusks
•    Reindeer horn
•    Mammoth Ivory
•    Hippopotamus teeth
The ivory most frequently used is obtained from elephant tusks, but other types of ivory or substitute materials include the tusks, teeth, horns, and bones of the narwhal, walrus, and other animals, as well as vegetable ivory and synthetic ivories.
In a nutshell, we can say that Ivory Carving is an art for ornamental or useful purposes that is being practiced from primitive to modern times and has a special trade value world-wide.