Gems Notes and Extracts Augusto Castellani, Mrs. John Brogden 1871

IVORY. 41of their great antiquity, they were nearly decomposed ;but now means have been discovered bywhich theiroriginal consistency is restored. This is done bydipping them in a glutinous solution, such as, for instance,thin gum-arabic water. Burnt ivory, or ivoryblack, is usually put at the back of those diamondswhich, not being of the purest water, are set in themanner technically called a notte, i.e., dark, and in thatcase helps to give them an admirable lustre.Fossil ivory has been excavated,of different degreesof hardness, but always recognisable by its thread-liketissue. Sometimes it preserves its natural colour ;atother times it takes various tints, according to the substancesamongst which it is found ;hence it would beeasily mistaken for a turquoise or a fossil gem, if, whencut, the colour were the same as that of the surface.History tells us that Dipoenus and Scyllis, disciples ofDaedalus, excelled in making statues of ivory and ebony.The statues of Diana and Tegea, also that of Ajax atSalamis, were entirely of ivory. The seats of the kingsof Eome, and those of the consuls, were also of thatmaterial. According to Winckelmann, there were inGreece upwards of one hundred colossal statues in ivoryand gold.Boethius the Carthaginian, Suidas of Naupacia,Parhasius of Athens, Phidias and Mys, were equallycelebrated for this description of statuary work.I have seen antique works in ivory of the Tyrrhenian,Italo-Grecian, Etruscan, Roman, and Renaissanceperiods, and they all gave an exact idea of the