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Re: ivory

Posted By: Bill H
Posted Date: Feb 08, 2014 (03:42 PM)

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The certificate you show is a worthless document, both in terms of proving the antiquity of this item and legitimizing it for international sale under provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). I lived in Hong Kong for several years in the late 20th century while posted to the American Consulate. Antique collectors there or in other cities such as Bangkok, Singapore and Taipei, ignored these commonplace certificates in favor of shops with well earned reputations in the antique trade.

I join others who have noted the characteristics such as cracking patterns that make this material appear much like mammoth ivory. Even before the CITES treaty popularized fossil tusks as legal ivory, modern Asian carvers used blowtorches to simulate the same kind of age cracking in their works.

There is nothing convincingly Ming about this piece, including the apocryphal mark. Ming carvers were purists who revered ivory for its intrinsic value as treasure. Most took the minimalist approach to carving, an ethic that generally prevailed among these artisans until the 'horror vacui' of the Qing Qianlong reign. Please see the below link to a Christie's auction result for a more typical Ming carving.

If you can find an independent expert to authenticate this piece as a legitimate antique carving, you should still keep in mind that top money probably will not be paid for it where you live unless you are in Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore or China itself. To reach these Markets, you will need an export permit with certification that the ivory complies with CITES provisions issued by an internationally recognized authority (the Fish & Game Service is the starting place in the USA). Further, if you're in the USA and reside in California, you'd better keep quiet, because it is illegal to possess ivory there with the intent to sell it (the only US state to enact such a law thus far).

In other words, a tough row remains to be hoed.

Bill H.

Link :ChristiesIvory

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Re: ivory - rat - Feb 10, 2014 (04:02 AM)