Tristan and Iseult meet at the fountain, while King Mark, above, spies on them. Detail from an ivory casket panel, made by an unknown artist in Paris in the 1340s. Now in the Louvre.
Ivory double bell (egogo) from the Benin kingdom in present-day Edo State, Nigeria, depicting the oba (king) with his arms upheld by two attendants, possibly high priests. The oba wielded the egogo during the Emobo rite that concluded the Igue festival, using its sound to repel troublesome spirits. Artist unknown; early 16th century. Now in the Brooklyn Museum. Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum.
Ivory bracer of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Thutmose IV. Thutmose is shown subduing an Asiatic enemy while a falcon-headed deity looks on. Artist unknown; 1397-1388 BCE. Found at Amarna*; now in the Neues Museum, Berlin. Photo credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP/Wikimedia Commons.
*It is unknown how the bracer ended up at Akhenaten's capital.
Hercules and Achelous, attributed to the Master of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, mid-17th century
The Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus. Ivory statuette by an unknown artist active in the Rhineland, 14th century. Now in the Museum Schnütgen, Cologne, Germany.
Ancient Roman ivory statuette of a reclining woman. Artist unknown; 3rd or 4th cent. CE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Assyrian ivory statuette group, found with other statuettes in a room at Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud (30 km south of Mosul in present-day Iraq). A man with a leopard-skin on his right shoulder grasps the horns of an oryx, while a monkey sits on his other shoulder. Artist unknown; ca. 8th cent. BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Statuette (polychrome ivory) depicting a tragic actor. Artist unknown; 1st cent. CE. Perhaps from Rome; now in the Petit Palais, Paris.
Byzantine ivory plaque with the enthroned Theotokos ("Mother of God"), the so-called "Stroganoff Ivory". Artist unknown; ca. 950-1025. Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Ancient Egyptian ivory statuette depicting the Apis-bull. Artist unknown; 664-343 BCE (Late Period). Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ancient Egyptian ivory figurine of a man. Artist unknown; 23rd century BCE (Sixth Dynasty, Old Kingdom). Now in the Louvre. Photo credit: Rama/Wikimedia Commons.
Netsuke in the form of a dog, carved by Izumiya Tomotada (active late 18th century). Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.
Abbess seal (ivory and silver) in the form of a Madonna and Child. Unknown French artist; ca. 1325-1350. Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.
Adam and Eve, unknown South German or Austrian artist, 1st half of 17th century
Ivory carving depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. Unknown south Indian artist; 1766. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo credit: art_traveller/Wikipedia Loves Art/Victoria and Albert Museum.
Ivory ex-votos found at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Sparta, made in the form of protomes and depicting the goddess crowned. Now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photo credit: Marsyas/Wikimedia Commons.