To the Germans was reserved the distinction of having first introduced into ivory carving a polychrome style, which, though condemned by good taste, had an enormous success. Simon Troger of Nuremberg, hit upon the plan of clothing his ivory figures with draperies of brown wood, and the Bavarian Krabensberger, improving on the idea, produced his groups of ragged gipsies and lazzaroni whose nakedness showed through their tattered clothes. Later, Kruger made a speciality of grotesque figures, and, lastly, the fashion of carrying canes becoming general in the eighteenth century, gave a scope to the genius of Michael Dabler, who executed groups of little figures to serve as handles to these monumental walking-sticks. Nevertheless we find a sculptor named Jopter, who, at this period, carved a fine Descent of the Cross.

But while mentioning the German specialists in this branch, it would be unfair to overlook the princes who were so fascinated by the beauty of this material that they devoted to it their leisure hours. These were Augustus the Pius, elector of Saxony in 1553, Maximilian, first elector of Bavaria of the younger branch in 1596, and George William, elector of Brandenburg in 1619.

There remains to be mentioned a country, whose works have not been described, because there, more than elsewhere, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between history and legend. We refer, of course, to Spain, where painting especially has been highly cultivated. Rut in his excellent works on the subject, M. Louis Viardot makes little more than incidental reference to the statuaries of the Iberian peninsula. So far back as 1376 we meet with the first pioneer of Spanish art in Jayme Castayls of Barcelona; closely followed by Anrique, who, in 1380, enriched the cathedral of Toledo with the remarkable Mausoleum of Henry II., while that of Don Pedro Tenorio was raised by Ferman Gonzalez in 1399. In 1420 Guillen de la Mota adorned the cathedral of Taragona with an alabaster retable, and about this time Alvar Gomez, Alvar Martinez, and Pedro Juan, applied themselves to the decoration of the same cathedral. Lastly, Juan de la Huerta came about the year 1450 to execute the monument of Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy, in Dijon. Here are precursors sufficient to account for the superiority of the Spanish ivories; why then seek elsewhere for an explanation? The marvellous expression of the features, the picturesque motion of the figures, the pliancy and truth of the draperies, cause Spanish sculpture to vie with the most perfect and most carefully conceived works of the painter in religious fervour and in faithful imitation of real life. We have recently seen a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, copied from a work in wood by Alonzo Cano, a work which gives some idea of the power of the artist to make the vegetable fibre quiver beneath the extatic inspiration of his chisel. And if we well remember a certain little ivory figure of St. Sebastian, admired by us in the cabinet of M. Thiers, and shown as a work by the same painter, we must recognize in it the same knowledge and genial power, and admit that the suggestion of both being by the same hand no longer causes us any surprise.

It is, at any rate, certain that most of the Spanish ivories in our collections are specially distinguished by their expression, we had almost said, by their colour. Must it be thence said that they are the work of painters, or else that the Spanish statuaries partake of the qualities of the painter?

The reader will have, doubtless, noticed that our descriptions have been restricted more particularly to the ivories in which expression is paramount, and to bas-reliefs and statuettes. The fact is, that purely ornamental pieces are excessively rare. When ivory is fashioned into caskets, drinking-vessels (buires), or chalices, it is nearly always accompanied with an ornamentation in which the human figure occupies the most prominent place. So true is this, that even in the very smallest objects, such as beads of rosaries, or the pieces in the games of draughts or chess, we are surprised still to find, often in microscopic proportions, scenes from sacred history, the effigies of contemporaries or heroic representations.

Ivory patch-box ; epoch of Louis XV. (Dr. Piogey's Collection.).

The universal employment of this material is amply shown by the public collections. The Museum of Artillery contains sword handles, the stocks of cross-bows, powder-flasks and horns, all in ivory; these latter often in real ivory, but occasionally also in stag's-horn worked after the fashion of cameos of two layers. Handles of knives or forks, objects of female industry, or even of pure ornament, patch-boxes, snuff-boxes, everywhere, and at all epochs, we find ivory so fashioned, ever ornamented by art. Hence it makes large claims on the attention of the connoisseur, whether as a furnishing material, or as a treasure suitable for an etagere or show case.