Featured Japanese carved Camellia brooch- what is this？

Just found this beauty for a relatively low price. Seller has no idea what it is. Googled it and have many similar pieces made of ivory, but most of them of lower quality than mine.

Mine was really finely carved and the material has a jelly, almost semi-transparent texture. You do see parallel lines throughout, and it glows under UV light so I believe it’s natural and organic.

it’s also signed at the back, but no luck researching the maker. I’m sure it came from Japan tho, the Japanese often work with ivory & white coral but not this time. What do you think?

Please share your thoughts or just enjoy this beauty if you have no idea just like me

 

I think it is ivory, quite modern, signed with the name of a Japanese master, but carved in China. What makes you sure it originated in Japan?

I have a couple of decorative pieces with insects & vegetation, okimono rather than jewellery, that are similar in many ways. Beautifully detailed, highly polished, with blackened Japanese signatures. Bought on eBay many years ago now, for what seemed like very low prices for the quality. As I recall, the seller, in a Midwestern US state, disappeared soon after. Feel bad about them & would not buy now.

 

the seller bought it with a bunch of other stuff in Japan, so mine probably came from Japan. But a Chinese export is not impossible in this case. It doesn’t have those crossing lines as ivory tho, and I haven’t seen ivory stuff that jelly-ish. I just did some more search and found that Japanese also use whale tooth which looks similar, could that be a possibility?

 

comparison between this& a piece of ivory

 

Searched sperm whale tooth on a Japanese site and this is listed there

 

Your pin may be shell, rather than ivory. The surfaces exposed in these cuts do not look like ivory (neither elephant tusk or sperm whale tooth) -

 

Looks like a more open structure inside the cuts, with tiny pinholes.

A beautiful brooch, skillfully carved.

 

Thank you for the suggestion! What shell precisely should I look into? Is that the shell frequently used for cameo?

 

This would have to be a much thicker shell, to create that depth.

 

Could it be Tridacna ？

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

they do share something similar

 

Yes, they do, and they are found in the Pacific.

 

Is Tridacna a CITES protected creature?

 

I think so!

 

Yes it is. Maybe it wasn't when the brooch was made. Japan introduced CITES legislation relatively late.

 

Hmmm, I just talked to another dealer of Japanese vintages who thinks this is indeed sperm whale tooth, based on the lines at the back not parallel, but directed towards a point, forming a V shape horizontally…

 

Could it be tagua?

 

tagua seems to have more solid and wavy lines, mine is super straight so

 

with those pin holes , I'm coming down on the side of bone...