The Syrian and North African elephant populations were reduced to extinction, probably due to the demand for ivory in the Classical world. This early collapse of elephant herds set a precedent for the centuries of exploitation that followed, turning a natural resource into a commodity that shaped economies and empires. The trade of finished goods of ivory products has its origins in the Indus Valley, where the Harappan civilization utilized ivory for kohl sticks, pins, awls, hooks, toggles, combs, game pieces, dice, inlay, and other personal ornaments. Ivory was a main product seen in abundance and was used for trading, establishing its value as a currency of sorts long before the modern era. Both the Greek and Roman civilizations practiced ivory carving to make large quantities of high-value works of art, precious religious objects, and decorative boxes for costly objects. Ivory was often used to form the white of the eyes of statues, adding a lifelike quality to the divine and the royal. The word ivory ultimately derives from the ancient Egyptian word for elephant, through the Latin word ebur, embedding the animal's name into the very language used to describe its remains.
Silk Roads And Opium Pipes
The Chinese have long valued ivory for both art and utilitarian objects, creating a demand that stretched across continents. Early reference to the Chinese export of ivory is recorded after the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian ventured to the west to form alliances to enable the eventual free movement of Chinese goods to the west. As early as the first century BC, ivory was moved along the Northern Silk Road for consumption by western nations. Southeast Asian kingdoms included tusks of the Indian elephant in their annual tribute caravans to China, cementing a relationship between the animal and the state. Chinese craftsmen carved ivory to make everything from images of deities to the pipe stems and end pieces of opium pipes, blending spiritual devotion with the vices of the era. In Japan, ivory carvings became popular in the 17th century during the Edo period, and many netsuke and kiseru, on which animals and legendary creatures were carved, and inro, on which ivory was inlaid, were made. From the mid-1800s, the new Meiji government's policy of promoting and exporting arts and crafts led to the frequent display of elaborate ivory crafts at World's fair. Among them, the best works were admired because they were purchased by Western museums, wealthy people, and the Japanese Imperial Family.The Piano Keys That Killed Elephants
As trade with Africa expanded during the first part of the 1800s, ivory became readily available, but the cost was measured in lives. Up to 90 percent of the ivory imported into the United States was processed, at one time, in Connecticut where Deep River and Ivoryton in the 1860s became the centers of ivory milling, in particular, due to the demand for ivory piano keys. The mechanical properties of ivory, including its high stiffness, strength, hardness, and toughness, made it the ideal material for piano keys that could withstand repeated wear and surface handling. It is therefore essential to consider the mechanical properties of ivory when designing alternatives, yet the industry prioritized performance over preservation. In the first half of the 20th century, Kenyan elephant herds were devastated because of demand for ivory, to be used for piano keys. During the Art Deco era from 1912 to 1940, dozens of European artists used ivory in the production of chryselephantine statues, with Ferdinand Preiss and Claire Colinet standing out as the most frequent users of ivory in their sculptured artworks. The consumption before plastics era saw ivory used to make cutlery handles, billiard balls, Scottish bagpipes, buttons, and a wide range of ornamental items, all driven by the material's unique white color and durability.