In India, as in Europe, an idea may be formed of the value that workmanship added to the material. Ivory is there found worked into ornaments and amulets, and often forms the carved hilt of poignards with Damascus blades, chased and damaskeened with gold.

A most remarkable circumstance may here be mentioned, as showing how faithfully the models have been followed in the various Indian workshops. There are often met articles of furniture and ivories, executed under European influence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the pure and delicate ornamentation of which in no way differs from that of the antique works. We have still the same matted foliage, with its countless leaves, amongst which whole troops of elephants are at times found entangled. But in reserved panels, we suddenly meet with bas-reliefs borrowed from Scripture, such scenes, for instance, as the "Temptation of Eve," the "Sacrifice of Abraham," or subjects from the life of Christ. These are obviously articles bespoken, er possibly representations intended to support the religious proselytism of the Portuguese missionaries. There are to be seen in the Louvre and elsewhere, caskets and cabinets of this description, executed in the most delicate manner. But the feeble character of the models supplied to the carver, often the most commonplace figures, gives rise to such a discrepancy between the subjects and the ornamentation, that one might at first sight feel inclined to attribute the workmanship to different hands. The same uncertainty is presented by the statuettes.

Baron Gustave Rothschild possesses a group of the "Virgin and Infant," which was at first taken for the work of some inexperienced mediaeval artist, but which was really of Indian workmanship. Owing to the force of local associations, the statuary had given the consecrated form of the Buddhist or Brahmanic nelumbo to the clouds in the original model, doubtless intended as a support to the figures. The same uncertain and imperfect treatment of the details of the features is conspicuous in the ivory caryatides serving as supports to some large cabinets in pique executed for Portugal, and still frequently to be met with.

Ivory cabinet with chased gold mountings; Indian work. (Former Sauvageot Collection, Louvre.).

Ivory has perhaps been worked by the Persians less extensively than by the Indians; but they have shown the same skill in the treatment of the ornamentation and in the style. On the handles of their weapons they often introduce the symbolic group of the lion and the bull; and here we are struck by the grand type of the animals and by the close resemblance they bear to the precious fragments found in Assyria. On other hilts, mounted hunters are boldly carved on one face, while the other presents a group of female dancers in light array, expressed with all the delicacy of a refined art. We need not speak of the archer's rings, and other gems of the Persian ivory carver occasionally met with. In consequence of their great rarety, connoisseurs will do well to lose no opportunity for securing such objects.

Such is far from being the case with the Chinese ivories, which are as plentiful as they are remarkable for the perfection of their patient workmanship, and often very worthy of attention for their style and composition. Let us examine their pitongs, or pen-cases, with their dragons and fong-hoangs encircled by flowers, or else those on which sages are seen painfully winding their way along the steep paths of the wooded hills going to meditate on the high places, and ponder in retirement over the mystic sense of the ancient volumes. Here we remark the finished execution, the skilful sharpness of a prodigious labour, in none of its details betraying the least symptom of weariness. In their sacred figures, again, we may admire infinite Goodness as embodied in Cheoii-lao, god of old age, the charming sweetness of the problematical divinity Kouan-in, problematical but ever lovely, whether she be a solar emblem or one of the numberless incarnations of the Buddhist pantheon. Let us also observe the rigour with which the ivory is made to reproduce the severe expression of the illustrious Kong-tse, or Confucius, prince of philosophers. And this study of expression, often so successful, does not prevent the artist from indulging in a thorough treatment of the draperies, enriching them with the most minute ornaments, often further relieved by gold and some traces of colour.

Amongst the works of a purely ornamental character, we may quote those pierced plaques for the waist carved on both sides with different subjects, those su-chns, or rosaries, those mandarins' necklaces, surpassing in delicacy the works of our rosary makers of the Middle Ages. And how shall we speak of their fans, real lace-work which we scarcely venture to touch, and which we fear to destroy with a breath. All this assuredly shows a consummate art, broad in its very minuteness and guided by deep thought.

We will not speak of such curiosities or trifles as those puzzle balls in open work, revolving one within the other, those chains carved of a single piece of ivory, or those junks, masted and adorned with flags, which it must have taken years to bring to perfection. For all this patience above all other qualities is needed, and we know that that of the Chinese has no limits.

Let us, therefore, pass on to the Japanese, reserving for them the tribute of our highest praise and admiration. Among them we shall find pitongs or pen-cases no less searchingly executed than those of China; we shall see the obedient material fashioned into boxes, embellished with fine reliefs, divided into compartments, most skilfully put together, forming those portable medicine-chests that look like a single piece, and on which stand out figures of the dairi in their rich costumes, their emblems carefully reproduced, and often held by officers crouched behind them. All this microscopic work is occasionally heightened by touches of lacquer and gold, and incrustations of mother-of-pearl or of pietra dura. Yet it is not this, nor even the miniature cabinets, with their endless divisions, that please us most. In them we, of course, recognise a wonderful art, but still traditional, like that of the Chinese, so that the style of one piece prepares us for another. But it is in the minute little netzkes, as they are called, that to the astonished observer is revealed the unforeseen, the mind of the individual artist, with its manifold types, its surprises and flashes of genius.

Antique ivory Netzkes. (M. Paul Gasnault's Collection.).