Featured Carved ivory picture fame

Another problematic impulse buy.
I always say ill stay away from this sort of thing, but if the price is crazy enough, I cant help myself...
30 cents or smth like that.
But i need some help putting a date on it.
Chinese i would say and the hardware looks oxidized enough to make it an old piece.
A little over 18 cm with a little over 14 cm, 2 cm wide.
About 82 gr.

 

nice find !!!!!!

 

It is a nice Chinese export frame, made in Canton (Guangdong), guesstimate ca 1900-1910.

Are you sure it is ivory? The photos that would show signs of ivory most are blurry, so it is difficult to say, but there is a possibility it is bone.

 

bone seems more likely..

 

Its quite translucent and very hard to capture the signs , but they are there.

Im adding something else too, if someone knows something about a miniature painter named Veber. Small one, about 5 by 4.5 cm. The painting i mean.

 

if you're suggesting schreger lines ..........

well , I guess there is this......

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/181...ved-border-and-arched-topimage-size-12-x-8cm/

 

there's a lot of those.....





...MADONNA OF THE STREETS by Roberto Ferruzzi(c1897)

 

I'd think yours is painted on celluloid.... imo

 

Both ivory, the carved one is really good, Any's right, Cantonese, around 1880-1900

 

Thank you guys.

Another question i find myself in need of an answer.
I have some period photographs of that size, heavy backs with photo studio logo, normal for the time, and even some period apropriate thin glass sheets i was saving, but i found some slight warping on the right side of the frame.
Warping on the 1 cm thickness of the frame.
I would like to use it as it was intended but its in need of a correction.
I removed the hardware and placed it under a light weight just letting the gravity do its thing, under normal conditions, room temperature and humidity.

Is there a way to speed up the process ? Or just a lot of patience ?
A safe way tho.
I see no obvious sighs of damage, no hairline cracks or anything like that.

 

by now that material has dried out and I doubt that pressure will straighten it out.....

 

It's a tricky game but using a moist environment (many days in a plastic bag with a wet sponge, not the frame getting wet) it will become slightly more pliable, depending on the twist this needs to be clamped in a flat plane until it dries (weeks) Warning if it not softened enough or you try to take too much twist out in one go it will shatter BTW it would be good to make a jig to clamp it before taking out of the bag.

 

Ty

It looks quite pliable. I mean, if i hold it down with my finger it is enough. And i was looking for signs of stress.
I don't mean a warping sideways, but face down, a slight curling up mid way . But to be on the safe side of things, about 10 days in the bag and then maybe 6 weeks in the jig to dry and retain the shape ?

 

The miniature Veber is decorative. Those typically came out of Italy. Here's a similar (but not as nice.)

Debora

 

TBH I couldn't say exactly the timing but the moist environment softerns the internal collagen of the ivory and the clamping should reset the twist. I would clean the frame before you start because you don't want rust or any other things to leach into the ivory BTW remove the screws and stand, then I would try 5-7 days in a tupperware box, with the sponge in a separate open container also inside the box, when you clamp it put a matchstick under the corner that's low because you still might get some springback, I would leave it for a few weeks clamped, 2 maybe? and check on it then, all of this depends on thickness, temp, how much moisture it took on ect, don't use heat though. You might have to repeat this process and you will have to workout what part failed, not long enough taking on moisture or didn't leave it long enough in the clamp to dry ect.

 

BTW, I can't tell but wouldn't the glass take out the twist? If you put a sturdy/rigid backing plate along with the glass and replaced the missing tabs wouldn't that do the same over time? You wouldn't need to go through the hassle.

 

Thought about using a rigid backing plate but its too risky.
It could bend one of the tabs.
Brass and way too thin, they look solid, but they are punched over a rounded mold. Even if they hold, the screws are superficial, just 1 mm deep or smth like that.
I have no ideea what presure i can exert using my thumb and pointer finger as a clamp over a shelf.

Its enough to correct the warp but may be to much for the tab/screw.