116 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT
flowers;
through the openings the artist cuts out in the centre of the mass a
little figure, which is so entirely separate from the enclosing
decorated surface that we would suppose that it had been carved outside
and then placed within the ornamental hilt.*
In
spite of the fact that the home supply of ivory in Burma is ample, the
ivory-carving industry languishes, although the few carvers still
employed seem to find more than they can do. It is suggested that the
opening of a school of art might serve to revive the industry, which is
now essentially confined to Moulmein and Pyinmana. The total amount of
ivory used in the course of a year by the carvers of Moulmein has been
estimated at from eight to twelve pairs of tusks. As a rule the Burmese
carver reproduces the old patterns handed down from generation to
generation, unless the person giving the order prefers that he should
copy some European design. While learning the art apprentices are
given cocoanut shell as a material, thus avoiding the risk of having a
valuable piece of ivory injured. Moreover, as cocoanut shell is more
brittle than ivory, the apprentice who is able to work it without
breaking it can be safely entrusted with the task of carving a piece of
ivory. Little originality is exhibited by the Burmese carvers, and
their art is very conventional; the products include boxes,
picture-frames, handles for knives and forks, paper-knives, etc. If
ordered, chessmen, mats, chairs, etc., can be made, and sometimes whole
tusks are carved over with some ornamental design, one enterprising
artist devoting more than seven months' time to the carving of
twenty-eight different images of the Buddha as decoration to a single
tusk.f
*T. N. Mukharji, "Art Manufactures of India," Calcutta, 1888, pp. 149,279.
fH. S. Pratt, "Ivory Carving in Burma," the Journal of Indian Art and Industry, Vol. IX, No. 75, p. 59; July, 1901. See for a representation of this or a similarly decorated tusk from Burma, Jour. Ind. Art. and Ind., Vol. I, No. 7, July, 1885, Fig. 12.
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