Can you introduce the skill of tooth carving?

Tooth carving refers to a series of carvings on ivory, which is an ancient traditional art and a folk arts and crafts. Ivory carving works of art, with solid and fine texture, soft and smooth color and exquisite carving art, are cherished by collectors and become one of the unique varieties in antiques. At present, tooth carving is made in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing. Tooth is the strongest part of an elephant, which is as smooth as jade, durable and precious as gemstone, so ivory has the reputation of organic gemstone. Ivory is different from ordinary teeth. Its surface is not covered with enamel. Very afraid of acid. Strong acid can corrode it, and weak acid can soften it. If the ivory is soaked in acetic acid, it can be softened, and then it is carved with a knife or other tools, which often gets twice the result with half the effort. Ivory has fine texture, moderate hardness, soft luster and fine teeth, so it is naturally a good natural material for making high-grade handicrafts.

ivory starts from the tooth head and has small black spots, which extend to the center of the hollow nozzle, and it is called the heart. If we cut the ivory tip transversely, we can find that there are three kinds of ivory hearts: sun heart, sesame heart and bad heart. Sun heart is the best, sesame heart is the second, and bad heart is the worst and less. Ivory has its natural lines, which spread around from the center of the tooth, and the tooth lines become thicker and thicker. The natural lines of ivory are herringbone and mesh. Generally speaking, ivory carving art can be divided into four categories: figures, animals, flowers and landscapes. Among them, the theme of tooth carving figures mainly comes from ancient myths and legends and historical celebrities.

From the category, it can be divided into ladies, arhats, Buddhists, warriors and historical figures. Generally speaking, figure sketches show the facial expressions, body postures, clothing shapes, etc. Where there is a source, it is necessary to focus on depicting the identity characteristics of the characters in order to achieve perfect artistic effects. Generally, the flowers in tooth carving are mainly flowers, with birds, butterflies, dragonflies and frogs as the foil. The carved figures include peony, rose, chrysanthemum, magnolia, peach, pine, bamboo and plum, and the overall shape of the support includes flower baskets, vases, bamboo tubes, folding fans and rockeries, which play a good role in matching the protagonist with the foil. The themes of tooth carving animals mainly include the roar of tigers in the forest, the roar of lions in the deep valley, the cock crowing at dawn, the fish jumping in the lotus pond and so on, among which the twelve zodiac animals occupy a certain position in the art of tooth carving. The landscape theme in tooth carving generally represents landscapes, islands and the sun, the moon and the clouds. Rocky rocks, mottled sea rocks and rolling clouds are the knife-wielding figures that tooth carving artists especially like. ?