rs ago such monuments
of art were executed with the very same grace and fidelity!

Ivory was known to the Egyptians as an article both of use and
ornament. They manufactured it into combs, rings, and a variety of
similar things. The processions on the walls of their palaces and
tombs would seem to indicate the fact of its having been obtained from
India, and also from Ethiopia or Central Africa. There is every reason
to believe also that the harder and more accessible ivory of the
hippopotamus was extensively used by them. Colonel Hamilton Smith has
seen a specimen of what appeared to be a sword-handle of ancient
Egyptian workmanship, which has been recognised by dentists as
belonging to this class of ivory.

Ivory was extensively used by the Jews. It is frequently spoken of in
Scripture as being obtained from Tarshish--an indiscriminate term for
various places in the lands of the Gentiles, but probably referring in
this case to some part of India or Eastern Africa. Wardrobes were made
of ivory, or at least inlaid with it; the splendid throne of Solomon
was formed of this material, overlaid with gold; Ahab built an ivory
palace: and beds or couches of the same material were common among the
wealthy Israelites. The Phoenicians of Tyre--those merchant-princes of
antiquity--were so profuse of this valuable article of their luxurious
commerce as to provide ivory benches for the rowers of their galleys.
Assyria--whose records and history are only now beginning to be
unfolded--possessed magnificent articles of ivory. Mr Layard, in his
excavations at Nineveh, found 'in the rubbish near the bottom of a
chamber, several ivory ornaments upon which were traces of gilding:
among them was the figure of a man in long robes, carrying in one hand
the Egyptian _crux ansata_--part of a crouching sphinx--and flowers
designed with great taste and elegance.'

The Greeks--who were acquainted with it at least as early as the time
of Homer--gradually introduced ivory as a material for sculpture. In
certain forms of combination with gold, it gave origin to the art of
_chryselephantine_ sculpture, so called from the Greek primitives,
gold and ivory. This art, which was perhaps more luxurious than
tasteful, was introduced about six hundred years before the Christian
era; and it was much admired for its singular beauty. It was not,
however, till the days of Phidias that it attained to its full
splendour. Two of the masterpieces of this sculptor