6.3 Ivory carving

Ivory carving was a prized luxury art form in Archaic Greece. Artisans used elephant and hippo tusks to create intricate decorative objects, sculptures, and inlays. These pieces showcased wealth and religious devotion while connecting Greece to wider Mediterranean trade networks.

Carvers employed specialized tools and techniques like relief carving and gilding. Popular motifs included mythological scenes and orientalizing animal designs. Over time, styles evolved from geometric forms to more naturalistic imagery, setting the stage for Classical Greek sculptural innovations.

Techniques of Archaic Greek Ivory Carving

Ivory Sourcing and Preparation

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Top images from around the web for Ivory Sourcing and Preparation

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• Ivory was primarily sourced from elephant and hippopotamus tusks, with elephant ivory being more highly prized for its larger size and finer grain
• Heating and soaking ivory in water was sometimes used to soften the material for easier shaping and to straighten curved pieces

Carving and Decorating Methods

• Ivory was cut, carved, and polished using a variety of tools including saws, drills, chisels, knives, rasps, and abrasives like pumice
• Techniques used included relief carving, engraving, openwork carving, and sculpting in the round to create both decorative elements and standalone sculptural pieces
• Pieces of ivory were joined together using dowels or glue to create larger composite works, a technique known as chryselephantine
• Coloring was sometimes applied to ivory using pigments, gilding, or inlaying with other materials like gold or semi-precious stones (lapis lazuli)

Ivory Carving in Archaic Greece

Luxury Goods and Social Status

• Ivory objects were luxury items that signified wealth, power and social status and were used as religious offerings, wedding gifts, and for decorating homes of the elite
• Ivory carving and trade was part of the wider ancient Mediterranean luxury goods economy connecting Greece with North Africa, the Near East and Italy (Phoenicia, Egypt)

Religious and Cultural Contexts

• In religious contexts, ivory was used to create votive offerings, ceremonial objects like scepters, and for adorning cult statues, temples and shrines
• Mythological scenes and images of gods and goddesses were popular subjects that reinforced cultural values and religious beliefs
• Ivory was associated with female adornment and was used for jewelry, hair accessories, cosmetic containers and furniture inlays, especially for bridal trousseaus

Production Centers and Workshops

• Ivory carving workshops were located in major artistic centers like Athens, Corinth and Sparta and production was shaped by local styles and patron tastes
• Skilled artisans carved ivory in specialized workshops, often attached to palaces or sanctuaries (Samian heraion)

Types of Archaic Greek Ivory Carvings

Decorative Elements

• Decorative plaques featuring relief carvings of animal and mythological motifs were used for adorning wooden chests, beds, lyres and horse trappings
• Intricately carved ivory cylinders and pommels topped ceremonial staffs and decorated the hilts of ceremonial swords and daggers
• Ivory was used for furniture inlays, often featuring detailed floral and animal designs (Gordion, Lydia)

Sculptures and Statuettes

• Statuettes depicting gods, goddesses, kouros and kore figures were carved in the round as votive offerings and cult images for use in sanctuaries and homes
• Ivory was used in chryselephantine sculpture, the most famous being the Athena Parthenos cult statue which featured gold drapery and ivory flesh

Evolving Motifs and Styles

• Orientalizing animal motifs like lions, griffins and sphinxes were popular in the 7th century BCE, showing Near Eastern artistic influence
• Black-figure style incised drawings filled with black pigment appeared on some ivory plaques in the 6th century BCE, similar to painted pottery
• Over the archaic period, ivory carving styles evolved from more rigid, geometric forms to increasingly naturalistic, dynamic and detailed imagery

Artistic Qualities of Archaic Greek Ivory Carving

Early Archaic Examples

• The Dipylon Master's ivory horseman plaque from a lyre (c. 730 BCE) exemplifies orientalizing animal style through dynamic lion and horse imagery
• The Artemis Orthia votive plaques from Sparta (7th century BCE) demonstrate skilled relief carving and use of mythological themes as offerings

High Archaic Innovations

• The Chryselephantine Apollo from Delphi (c. 620 BCE) reconstructed from ivory fragments shows mastery of sculpting, assembling and coloring ivory
• Statuettes of korai from Rhodes (late 7th-6th century BCE) showcase the development of lively, naturalistic ivory carving in the round
• Intricately carved ivory furniture inlays from Gordion (6th century BCE) feature detailed Eastern Greek floral and animal motifs and fine engraving

Legacy and Influence

• Archaic ivory carving techniques reached new heights with the chryselephantine Athena Parthenos statue (5th century BCE)
• Archaic ivory carving set the stage for classical sculptural innovations in contrapposto, drapery, and the interplay of materials (Phidias, Polykleitos)