big elephant little elephant

a couple of elephants i bought at a boot sale today from the same person

id have sworn the little one was ivory but no sign of any lines visible, certainly feels right for it, or bone maybe ?

the large one is semi translucent, would it be serpentine ?

any thoughts appreciated

 

Might be BC jade.

 

he looks cuter not so zoomed in

 

thanks obb, that'd be nice, ill look into that

 

The little guy looks like ivory to me. The lines/grain there are in the material depends on what part of the tusk it was cut from. The famous Schreger lines are only present in outer layers. The way it has those little cracks is very consistent with ivory; so is the color.

 

cool thanks bronwen that makes sense. after handling a few pieces i have found has been more helpful identifying it than researching about it online for sure

 

its a terrible irony that hes made of ivory and his tusks are missing

thats not me trying to be funny either,

i find the whole ivory thing terrible, but when i find something like this, i think ooo i think thats ivory and buy it

 

I agree, it is ivory. He is very sweet, and I think he is just pre-CITES, my guess ca 1920s. Do we know he is a he and not a she?
The other one looks like serpentine jade, a nice quality serpentine that resembles jade. It is used a lot in China.
I think they are both Chinese, the shape of the eyes on the ivory one is seen a lot on Chinese made elephants.

Yes, it is.

 

Very helpful indeedy, thanks Aj

That's good news I think that the biggin is maybe chinese Made

Is he a bit more recent though ?

 

Yes, much more recent. Late 20th century to a few years ago.