Help ID: Chinese Ivory carving

I have a graphic carving of ivory from China, I got it as a gift from an antique dealer. She Told me that it was used as a weight for a sack that held money in it that would act as a mechanism to deter pickpocketing. I would like to know more but I don’t even know where to start. It does have a signature, but I don’t know who it is or what this may be worth. She told me that this was preban ivory as well.

 

Welcome, @Ruskoinabiscuit.
Your piece is in the style of a Japanese netsuke, which were used as toggles on purses, tucked under the waist sash. If your antique dealer is certain it is of Chinese origin, there is the possibility that it is a Chinese copy. In genuine netsukes, the holes will communicate with each other, and be of slightly different sizes. In use, a cord was threaded through the holes and the smaller hole would prevent the terminal knot from slipping through.

The subject matter is in the erotic genre known as "shunga" in Japanese.

To confirm it is made of ivory it would be helpful to see some closeups to look for distinctive features known as "Schreger lines" - a faint pattern of cross-hatching that is specific to elephant ivory. One of the more likely places to be able to see these lines would be on the pillow that the woman is leaning on, as it provides a variety of orientations.

 

Nice of the dealer to give you such a gift !!

but unless she knows the artists name and when it was made ....it's just a nice story.
& it's a Netsuke...........
& she was making stuff up...
& that's a gift I would give to a lover....no one else !
& it's getting almost impossible to sell Ivory .......

 

Unless she just didn't want to try to sell it in her shop.

 

Hi thanks for the information, I was totally mistaken thinking it was Chinese. I appreciate the reference to the style as well. How much of a close up would I need to see the Schreger lines? I looked it up and most of the photos I found where under magnification. I can see some lines with the naked eye however

 

If you have good lighting, and know what you are looking for you can look for the lines yourself. It would certainly be easier than getting good closeups. There have been many discussions of how to recognize ivory here on the forum, many with good photos as examples. You can search this forum for "schreger" (search box in the upper right corner) to find many of the threads.

 

I meant to quote you above. I took the best photos I could with my phone and some lines are visible

 

Sweet will do thanks! I posted a few photos right before I read this lol.

 

Ivory!