Ivory: Not Just for Towers Trivia Quiz

Answer: mammoth

Ivory consists for the most part of dentine, the hard, white substance that is one of the main components of teeth. The tusks (modified upper incisors) or teeth of any mammal that are large enough to be carved can be described as ivory, though the word is often synonymous with the material obtained from the tusks of elephants. Experts believe that the fragmentary figurine commonly known as the Venus (or Lady) of Brassempouy was carved from the ivory of a freshly killed mammoth. The figurine is named after the locality where it was found in 1894 - a cave (known as Grotte du Pape) near the village of Brassempouy, in southwest France.

As can be seen in the photo, the face has no mouth, though the forehead, brows and nose are carved in relief. The checkered pattern on the figurine's head may be meant to be a covering (hence the nickname of "Lady with a Hood", even though the face's features are not explicitly feminine), a wig, or simply a stylized representation of hair. The Venus of Brassempouy is believed to have been produced during the Gravettian period of the Upper Palaeolithic (between 29,000 and 22,000 years ago); the ivory would have been carved with stone implements known as "burins". The Venus of Brassempouy is preserved in a special room (opened only by reservation) of the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris.

Mammoths, which became extinct about 4,000 years ago, left behind extensive remains, especially in Siberia, where they were preserved by permafrost. In Russia, mammoth tusks have been the object of trade for at least 300 years. Hippopotamus and narwhal tusks are also sources of ivory, while rhino horns are made of keratin, like human hair and nails.

Answer: Phidias

Sadly, nothing remains of the two magnificent statues of Zeus and Athena sculpted by Phidias in the 5th century BC. The 19th-century illustration shown in the photo is based on the detailed description of the statue of Zeus at Olympia (one of the original Seven Wonders of the World) left by Greek geographer and traveler Pausanias in the 2nd century AD; the only physical representations of the statue are found on coins and engraved gems. The statue of the king of the Olympians was about 12.4 m (41 ft) tall; its wooden framework was covered with ivory and gold plates, while the cedarwood throne on which the god was seated was inlaid with ebony, ivory, gold and gemstones. Though the eventual fate of the Zeus statue is unknown, it was probably destroyed in the 5th century AD.

Slightly shorter than the Zeus, the statue of Athena Parthenos that stood at the centre of the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens showed the goddess resting after a victorious challenge. It also had a wooden core covered with ivory and removable gold plates, which were later replaced by gilded bronze panels. In 1990, a replica of the statue, modeled on Pausanias' and Plutarch's descriptions, was created by American sculptor Alan LeQuire to stand in the reproduction of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee: no ivory, however, is involved, as the statue is made of gypsum and ground fiberglass.

Chrysoelephantine statues of all sizes were popular in Ancient Greece, but only a few small, fire-blackened specimens have survived. This is not surprising, since ivory is a very delicate material that needs constant maintenance. Very reactive to environmental factors, especially changes in temperature and humidity, it is also susceptible to be damaged by impact because of its porous, brittle nature.

Answer: Ravenna

Ivory was in such high demand in Greece and Rome that this might have led to the extinction of two subspecies of elephant, the Syrian and the North African. While few ivory carvings are left from Greece and other ancient civilizations, Roman ivories have survived in much larger numbers. The majority of surviving Roman ivory artifacts date from the early Christian era: many of them are diptychs (two flat, carved plates attached by a hinge), which are quite small in size. The Chair ("cathedra") of Maximianus, Bishop of Ravenna between 546 and 556 AD, is by far the largest and most significant piece of ivory art from the Late Antique period. Probably made in Constantinople or Alexandria, and shipped from there to Ravenna (which at the time was the seat of Byzantine government in Italy), the massive wooden chair is covered in ivory panels carved with scenes from the Old and New Testament, and frames depicting various animals surrounded by winding vines and grapevines; the front bench is decorated with the figures of the four Evangelists flanking St John the Baptist. Though nine of the panels at the back of the chair have been lost, this stunning work of art - housed in Ravenna's Archiepiscopal Museum - is nonetheless very well preserved.

Located near the Adriatic coast of Northern Italy, Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 to 476 AD, and then the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom until 540. Its magnificent Early Christian and Byzantine monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1996).

Answer: it is decorated with figures of sentient beings

In the medieval Islamic world, ivory was one of the preferred materials for decorative works of art, being relatively easy to come by for geographical reasons. Intricately carved in stunning detail, many of these objects (which include boxes, caskets and other containers) are decorated with images of animals and people - a violation of the Muslim ban on the representation of sentient beings that was nonetheless far from rare in the art of Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus).

The influence of Byzantine art is rather evident in objects such as the Pyxis of al-Mughira, a portable, cylindrical box made in 968 AD for the coming of age of Prince al-Mughira, the youngest son of Abd-el-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordoba (as stated in the Arabic inscription around the base of the lid). The purpose of this gorgeous artifact, made in the workshops of Medina Azahara (a city near Cordoba, now in ruins) is unknown, though it is likely to have been a container for personal items such as perfume or jewels. The pyxis was carved from a full section of the thickest part of an elephant tusk; the four medallions around the diameter of the box depict scenes with human figures, as well as animals and trees. The Pyxis of al-Mughira is part of the collection of Islamic art of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Answer: Byzantine

Like the Chair of Maximianus, the Veroli Casket originated in the Byzantine Empire, albeit several centuries later. Believed to have been commissioned by a member of the Imperial Court of Constantinople - possibly as a marriage casket, or to hold jewelry, cosmetics or scent bottles - this magnificent artifact is a rare example of a medieval object created for non-religious purposes. However, until 1861 (when it was acquired by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, where it resides to this day) the casket was kept in the Treasury of the cathedral of Veroli, a town south-east of Rome, where it may have been used as a reliquary at least for some time.

The rectangular wooden casket is overlaid with ivory and bone plaques that still bear traces of painting and gilding; it belongs to a group of similar objects, created in Constantinople between the 9th and the 12th century, known as "rosette caskets" because of their border decoration of stylized, eight-petaled flowers. The exquisitely detailed carving of the panels depicts various Greek myths, such as the rape of Europa and the sacrifice of Iphigenia, together with animals, winged cupids and various deities, some of them portrayed in the nude - a highly unusual occurrence in the Middle Ages. As is nearly always the case with Byzantine artifacts, the level of craftmanship is extremely high, especially considering the relatively small size of the casket.

Answer: Song of Roland

As their name implies, olifants were made from the end of an elephant's tusk, carved for at least part of its length. Though described as hunting horns, they may have been more ornamental than practical. Not surprisingly for such beautiful, expensive objects, they were often associated with royalty; people of lower social status used the horns of cattle.

About 100 medieval olifants have survived from both Western Europe and the Islamic world, and are now preserved in museums and private collections. Many of these objects were carved by Muslim craftsmen in southern Italy and Sicily, between the 10th and the 12th century; the most renowned workshops were located in the city of Salerno, on the Tyrrhenian coast south of Naples. A Norman olifant from Salerno, known as the Horn of Ulph, is held in the Treasury of York Minster in England. The specimen pictured in the photo, also of southern Italian or Sicilian origin, is on display at the Bode-Museum in Berlin. Decorated with scenes of hunting, the horn is bound with iron bands, from which hangs a chain. Olifants were also used as containers for relics, or as tokens of land tenure.

In the 11th-century French epic "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland), an olifant plays a prominent role: the titular hero, Charlemagne's nephew, blows his olifant to call for help when ambushed by the Moors at the Battle of Roncevaux, killing himself in the effort.

Answer: Norway

Found in 1831 on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, the Lewis (also known as Uig, from the name of the bay where they were discovered) chessmen are a group of chess pieces mostly carved in walrus ivory in the mid-12th century. The original hoard included 78 chess pieces, 14 tablemen (pieces used in other board games), and a belt buckle - for a total of 93 pieces. When the hoard was sold in the 19th century, the British Museum acquired 82 of the pieces; the remaining 11 are preserved in Edinburgh's National Museum of Scotland. Based on historical and artistic factors, the chessmen are believed to have been crafted in Trondheim, the medieval capital of Norway; the style in which they are carved is reminiscent of the carvings in the city's Nidaros Cathedral, the world's northernmost Gothic cathedral.

With the exception of the pawns, all the chessmen are represented as human figures. The bishops wear mitres and hold croziers, the knights are mounted on horses, and the rooks (warders) are depicted as standing warriors - four of them as berserkers, biting their shields in the battle frenzy. On the other hand, the kings and queens are seated on elaborately carved thrones, and both wear crowns; the somewhat worried pose of the queens, resting their chin on one hand, may have been inspired by depictions of the grieving Virgin Mary. The size of the figures ranges from 7 to 10.2 cm (2.7 to 4 in).

Located off the western coast of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides were under Norse control for about 400 years, from the late 9th century to 1266. The Lewis chessmen are one of the few surviving archaeological records of the Norse presence on the islands.

Answer: an altarpiece

Though originally from Florence, the Embriachi family migrated to Venice in the late 13th century; there they established a workshop that specialized in the carving of ivory and bone. The extremely high quality of their output earned these craftsmen international fame, and their works were commissioned by wealthy patrons from Italy and other parts of Europe. The most famous member of the Embriachi family was Baldassarre, who was active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

Though many Embriachi artifacts tend to be relatively small in size - such as caskets and tabernacles - some larger works have survived. Among them, the Poissy retable preserved at the Louvre Museum, and the altarpiece of the Charterhouse of Pavia, in northwestern Italy. The Poissy retable, created in Baldassarre degli Embriachi's workshop around 1400, was commissioned by Jean de Berry, third son of King John II of France, for the abbey of Poissy, near Paris. Made of ivory and bone on a wooden framework, it is structured as a tryptich, with three large panels that contain a series of smaller panels depicting scenes of the life of Christ, St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.

The word "retable" is a French loanword that comes from the Latin "retrotabulum" ("rear table"); it denotes a structure placed on a pedestal behind an altar. It is often referred to in English as "reredos", though the two objects are not exactly identical.

Answer: Portugal

No discussion of ivory in art would be complete without a mention of African ivory carvings. Despite the wide availability of the raw material, in sub-Saharan Africa ivory - known in Europe as "white gold" - was mostly used for artifacts meant to be exported, often as gifts for the patrons of the many voyages of exploration that took place between the 15th and the 16th century. As a result, many African ivories display a mix of native and European influences.

Some of the finest examples of African ivory carving come from the coastal areas of West and Central Africa, where the Portuguese influence was particularly significant. The Kongo Kingdom was famous for exquisitely carved horns made from the tusks of forest elephants (considerably smaller than savannah elephants). However, even more striking artifacts were created by the Sapi (or Supi) people from what is now Sierra Leone. In the late 15th century, Portuguese traders established enclaves on the coastal area of West Africa known as the Pepper Coast (or "Grain and Ivory Coast" - hence the name of the modern sovereign state of Ivory Coast), and commissioned local artisans to craft various kinds of elaborate ivory containers for salt and spices - the valuable trade goods on which much of the prosperity of the future Portuguese Empire was based. One such vessel is the Sapi Saltcellar, carved in ivory and bone in the 15th or 16th century - an outstanding example of the Afro-Portuguese style, which combines Sapi symbolism (the snakes coiled around the base, representing wealth) with European imagery from the chivalric tradition (the growling dogs that confront the snakes). The Saltcellar, together with other finely crafted Afro-Portuguese ivory objects, is preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Answer: netsuke

First created during the Edo period (1603-1868), netsuke were fashion accessories that very soon developed into miniature works of art. As traditional Japanese kimonos had no pockets, their wearers had to find alternative ways of storing small, personal items such as writing implements, medicines and seals. While women generally tucked those items into the kimono's wide sleeves, men used beautiful lacquered boxes known as "inro", hanging from a silk cord tucked behind the kimono's sash (obi) and secured with a netsuke. Though the spread of Western-style dress in the late 19th century caused a sharp decline in the production of these unique objects, skilled carvers are still creating high-quality netsuke in contemporary designs; cheap netsuke are also mass-produced for the tourist market.

The most common type of netsuke is the "katabori", a three-dimensional figure carved in the round from materials such as ivory (by far the most common), wood, horn, bamboo and coral; subjects ranged from nature to erotic or satirical scenes. Now that the use of elephant ivory has been banned in most countries, ivory from fossil mammoths (see Q.1) is frequently employed by netsuke carvers. A very unusual, and highly prized, material is hornbill "ivory" (made of keratin) derived from the casque of the helmeted hornbill, a large bird of Southeast Asia.

The beautiful ivory netsuke in the photo, dating from the 19th century, depicts a horse on a pedestal with monkeys playing about; it is part of the extensive netsuke collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging; kabuki is a form of Japanese dance-drama, and daikon is a kind of winter radish.