“Traces of gilding,” says Tomes, “remain on many of them; and they were often, furthermore, enriched by being inlaid with fragments of _lapis lazuli_, or of a colored glass in apparent imitation of this: the edges of the larger heads were generally rendered conspicuous by this means. In one of the panels, the border of the dresses, the thrones on which the figures were seated, the ornaments above the cartouche, and the cymbals upon the cartouche itself, were thus inlaid with color. The largest object is a carved staff, perhaps a sceptre. Amongst the smaller pieces are heads of animals, and entire animals, griffins, human heads, crossed and clasped hands, rings, etc. Like the ivory-carvers of a later period, these early workers seem to have studied the economy of their material. Thus, a beautiful carving in high relief of two griffins, standing upon papyrus flowers, has been worked in the interior segment of a large tusk, the natural curvature of which it follows.” Besides these discovered at Nineveh, some other ivories of great antiquity exist; and ivory-workers are mentioned as a distinct class of artificers at the commencement of the Christian era. Many writing-tablets of ivory, with raised rims inside, where wax was spread over their surfaces, have come down to us. These were often made to fold together, and the exterior richly ornamented with carvings. It was the custom for newly appointed consuls under the empire to send these plaques to persons of importance, and the covers sometimes have portrayed upon them the consul in his robes of office. These ancient relics are invaluable. In the South Kensington Museum, there is exhibited a beautiful ivory plaque of the third century, for which two thousand dollars were paid. It forms one-half of a diptych, and measures eleven and three-quarters by four and three-quarters inches. The other half is in the Hotel Cluny. Many of the ancient carvings deal with sacred subjects. One of the most beautiful is a Pieta, representing the Virgin holding the dead Christ in her lap, and dates from the fourteenth century. Schliemann, in his excavations on the supposed site of Troy, has found many ivory objects, as pins, buckles, etc. The most profligate and, it must be confessed, magnificent use of ivory is seen in the attempts of the early Greeks to add to the splendors of their national religion. During the time of Pericles, 445 B.C., there was a demand for fine statues of the gods; and it was reserved for Phidias, the most famous of all the ancient sculptors, to invent the ivory statue,—not the diminutive creations with which we are familiar, but colossal figures formed of an aggregation of small pieces. The Greeks had figures of wood and stone; but finally the public taste seemed to demand something more refined, and the combination of gold and ivory was the result. (See Plate XVII.)