The Egyptians were also workers in ivory, which was obtained in large quantities from Ethiopia. Sometimes they were content with carving it (Fig. [322]), sometimes they engraved upon it with the point and then filled in the design with black, giving it a forcible relief (Fig. [323]). The ivory plaque from Sakkarah reproduced in Fig. [321], deserves to be studied for its technical method, although it dates from the Greek period. The blacks shown in our woodcut are produced in the original by filling up with mastic the hollows made with the point.
Famous sculptors were especially fond of working in ivory. Iritesen speaks as follows upon a stele translated by M. Maspero:—"Ah! there is no one who excels at this work except myself and the eldest of my legitimate sons. God decided that he should excel, and I have seen the perfection of his handiwork as an artist, as the chief of those who work in precious stones, in gold, silver, ivory and ebony."[393]
Fig. 315.—Necklace. Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
Fig. 316.—Osiris, Isis, and Horus.
No traces of amber have been discovered in Egypt, and Egyptologists tell us that no word for it is to be found in the language.
Figs. 317, 318.—Rings. Louvre.
