Lot Essay
Although in recent times the imperatives of conservation have necessitated the outlawing of the modern ivory trade, in traditional China carved ivory was very highly regarded, and some exceptionally skilled carvers worked on this material. A sub-species of the Asian or Indian elephant, Elephas indicus, was in early times indigenous to both north and south China, but the encroachment of man on their habitat meant that by the end of the Zhou period much of the ivory used in China was imported from India or Southeast Asia. By the Song period, Africa too was an important source of ivory for the Chinese carver. We know from existing records that emperors of succeeding dynasties enthusiastically welcomed gifts of elephants for ceremonial use, and of ivory for carving.
Ivory from Southeast Asia was particularly prized because of its fine-grained texture, but ivory was generally appreciated for smooth surface, evenness of texture and lack of brittleness. These qualities meant that it could be carved with great detail and fluidity and that the surface would have a smoothness that was pleasing both to the eye and the touch. In addition the surface of old ivory takes on a lustrous warm tone that serves to enhance the form. The curvature of the original tusk was often used to great effect by the carver when producing figures, which appear to incline elegantly to one side.
There is considerable historical evidence for a chronology of late Ming ivory production in the province of Fujan, which sets this growth of a Chinese ivory-figure industry firmly in the context of late medieval Western ecclesiastical ivories and the early proselytising efforts of European Catholic missionaries in the Far East. The Chinese had no tradition of carving ivory tusks into secular or religious figures, and the earliest Chinese records which mention figure carving are of the late sixteenth century. The Roman Catholic Church in medieval Europe, however, had long used ivory votive images, particularly of the Madonna and Child on altars and in chapels for devotional purposes. These continued to be used and apparently commissioned for the new chapels established as the Church's missionary activities followed European exploration eastwards around the Cape of Good Hope and India. Despite the absence of earlier Chinese references to, or examples of, ivory figure carving, within a few decades of Spanish and Portuguese Catholic adventures establishing trading footholds in Manila and Macau, certain areas of the South China coast, especially Fujian, were recording in their local gazetteers a new and flourishing industry in carving ivory figures. More than that, many of these early figures bear an uncanny and oft-noted resemblance to Western Catholic devotional images, in particular the Madonna and Child.
The most comprehensive contemporary sources for studies of figures, in Chinese rather than Western religious taste, whatever the medium in which they were carved, were late Ming printed books illustrated by woodblock prints. Here craftsmen could find outline sources for military, supernatural or secular subjects, delineated in a typically crips linear unshaded manner. Chinese graphic artists had long refined their subtle and economic draughtmanship, and woodblock print making was an ideal derivative from the traditional simple lines. Even where, at an early date, the print subjects are fairly elaborate figures - dancers, actors, warriors - they are portrayed in prints and the decorative arts in a markedly economic manner. This explanation helps one understand the simple and repetitive quality of many of the early ivories. Circumscribed by the size and shape of the tusks available, drawing their inspiration from relatively simple print designs, and mostly catering for an unsophisticated and conservative market until Cantonese craftsmen introduced new models in the later years of Qing China, Chinese carvers of ivory figures had no incentive to innovate with a profitable commodity. The standard models of figures long remained popular, although the white porcelain of Dehua (blanc de Chine) figures became increasingly elaborate in later decades, when Zhangzhou was apparently no longer the centre of the ivory producing industry for the Chinese domestic and foreign trade. See Colin Sheaf, Chinese Ivory Figures: the Chang-chou School of Carving, Arts of Asia, July 1984, passim.
The evidence of the Chinese adapting, from Spanish demand, to a new domestic demand for items of local use or veneration, is borne out by reference to irregularly published local business and craft gazetters for Zhangzhou prefecture. In 1573, the section on craft production includes no reference to ivory production. In 1628 the craft is clearly very well established, and a domestic market for Chinese taste figures has arisen. "Ivory carving: elephant ivory can no longer be found in the city environs, and is wholly traded by those who come in from the port markets. Zhang (zhou) people carve it into immortals and that sort of thing, supplying them for the purpose of providing pleasure. Their ears, eyes, limbs and torso are all life like. Exceptionally skilful work comes from Haizhong. Ivory chopsticks, ivory rings, ivory belt-plaques and ivory fans are also to be had."
It is interesting to note that when the turquoise matrix throne was included in the 1915 Burlington House Exhibition, it was dated to the eighteenth century, and it is suggested in the catalogue, ibid., no.C.37, pl.XXVII, that this was probably originally commissioned for one of the set of eighteen enshrined Luohan which were in the Summer Palace, the original figure having been made of turquoise.
Ivory from Southeast Asia was particularly prized because of its fine-grained texture, but ivory was generally appreciated for smooth surface, evenness of texture and lack of brittleness. These qualities meant that it could be carved with great detail and fluidity and that the surface would have a smoothness that was pleasing both to the eye and the touch. In addition the surface of old ivory takes on a lustrous warm tone that serves to enhance the form. The curvature of the original tusk was often used to great effect by the carver when producing figures, which appear to incline elegantly to one side.
There is considerable historical evidence for a chronology of late Ming ivory production in the province of Fujan, which sets this growth of a Chinese ivory-figure industry firmly in the context of late medieval Western ecclesiastical ivories and the early proselytising efforts of European Catholic missionaries in the Far East. The Chinese had no tradition of carving ivory tusks into secular or religious figures, and the earliest Chinese records which mention figure carving are of the late sixteenth century. The Roman Catholic Church in medieval Europe, however, had long used ivory votive images, particularly of the Madonna and Child on altars and in chapels for devotional purposes. These continued to be used and apparently commissioned for the new chapels established as the Church's missionary activities followed European exploration eastwards around the Cape of Good Hope and India. Despite the absence of earlier Chinese references to, or examples of, ivory figure carving, within a few decades of Spanish and Portuguese Catholic adventures establishing trading footholds in Manila and Macau, certain areas of the South China coast, especially Fujian, were recording in their local gazetteers a new and flourishing industry in carving ivory figures. More than that, many of these early figures bear an uncanny and oft-noted resemblance to Western Catholic devotional images, in particular the Madonna and Child.
The most comprehensive contemporary sources for studies of figures, in Chinese rather than Western religious taste, whatever the medium in which they were carved, were late Ming printed books illustrated by woodblock prints. Here craftsmen could find outline sources for military, supernatural or secular subjects, delineated in a typically crips linear unshaded manner. Chinese graphic artists had long refined their subtle and economic draughtmanship, and woodblock print making was an ideal derivative from the traditional simple lines. Even where, at an early date, the print subjects are fairly elaborate figures - dancers, actors, warriors - they are portrayed in prints and the decorative arts in a markedly economic manner. This explanation helps one understand the simple and repetitive quality of many of the early ivories. Circumscribed by the size and shape of the tusks available, drawing their inspiration from relatively simple print designs, and mostly catering for an unsophisticated and conservative market until Cantonese craftsmen introduced new models in the later years of Qing China, Chinese carvers of ivory figures had no incentive to innovate with a profitable commodity. The standard models of figures long remained popular, although the white porcelain of Dehua (blanc de Chine) figures became increasingly elaborate in later decades, when Zhangzhou was apparently no longer the centre of the ivory producing industry for the Chinese domestic and foreign trade. See Colin Sheaf, Chinese Ivory Figures: the Chang-chou School of Carving, Arts of Asia, July 1984, passim.
The evidence of the Chinese adapting, from Spanish demand, to a new domestic demand for items of local use or veneration, is borne out by reference to irregularly published local business and craft gazetters for Zhangzhou prefecture. In 1573, the section on craft production includes no reference to ivory production. In 1628 the craft is clearly very well established, and a domestic market for Chinese taste figures has arisen. "Ivory carving: elephant ivory can no longer be found in the city environs, and is wholly traded by those who come in from the port markets. Zhang (zhou) people carve it into immortals and that sort of thing, supplying them for the purpose of providing pleasure. Their ears, eyes, limbs and torso are all life like. Exceptionally skilful work comes from Haizhong. Ivory chopsticks, ivory rings, ivory belt-plaques and ivory fans are also to be had."
It is interesting to note that when the turquoise matrix throne was included in the 1915 Burlington House Exhibition, it was dated to the eighteenth century, and it is suggested in the catalogue, ibid., no.C.37, pl.XXVII, that this was probably originally commissioned for one of the set of eighteen enshrined Luohan which were in the Summer Palace, the original figure having been made of turquoise.