The
gradual dying out of the art of ivory carving in Assam since the
cessation of the rule of the Ahom rajahs is attributed to the
consequent removal of the incentives due to direct royal patronage,
assuring regular occupation and a stated salary or recompense to the
individual carvers. Moreover, the main sources of supply for ivory have
been cut off by the strict enforcement of the Elephant Preservation
Act, as now only the tusks of dead elephants found in the jungle are
available, while in former days a plentiful supply of ivory was secured
from the elephant herds kept by the rajahs, as well as from the tusks
of wild elephants slaughtered by hunters.
The
art of ivory carving must have stood high in Ceylon in thè seventeenth
century, for it is related that at that time a native artist of this
island executed in ivory a crucifix a yard in length, the work being
done in such a masterly style that the hair, beard, and face of the
Christ appeared those of a living being. So accurately proportioned was
the whole carving, and so wonderfully were all the details worked out,
that it far surpassed anything of the kind executed in Europe. For this
reason the Catholic bishop (of Goa?) had the carving enclosed in a
costly casing and sent it to the King of Spain as a great rarity well
deserving a prominent place among his treasures.*
The
finest Cinghalese ivory carving is done at Point de Galle, or Galle, as
it is called in Ceylon, and here many highly artistic ivories have been
produced, the designs being in some cases derived from specimens of old
Buddhist art and in others inspired by scenes of the life of to-day in
Ceylon. At the St. Louis Exposition, in 1904, Messrs. D. F. de Silva
& Co. and Mr. Abdul Caffoor exhibited some wonderful, gem-encrusted
ivory elephants, and in a great many instances
*S.
de Vries, "Curieuse Aenmerckingen der bysonderste Oust en West-Indische
Ver-wonderenswaerdige Dingen," Utrecht, 1682, Pt. IV, p. 839.
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