Eighteen Arhat armrests carved with ivory

[Eighteen Arhat ‘ivory armrests]

Eighteen Arhat’ ivory armrests are 29.1 cm long, 6.1 cm wide and 2.4 cm thick
Imitates the shape of a bamboo knot, with a wide top and narrow bottom, and curved left and right sides. The surface is slightly arched, with a concave back like a covered tile, and bears four short feet with cloud patterns underneath. On the front of the arm rest is a shallow relief of a monk sitting with incense burning on a thin ground in Yangwen. The concave surface of the arm rest adopts the high relief technique to carve the figure of eighteen Arhat crossing the sea. The Arhat, holding magic weapons, rode, sat, or attached to their own mounts, with different postures and expressions, and greeted each other as they crossed the sea
Ivory carved stationery was deeply influenced by bamboo carving after the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was often carved using high relief techniques. The eighteen Arhat armrests are clearly arranged. The convex shallow relief monk statue is less than one millimeter thin, yet full of charm and strong three-dimensional sense, very similar to the fan bone grinding method in Yangzhou and Jiading regions
There are only two ivory carvings of the Eighteen Arhat Sea Crossing Brackets handed down at present, one of which is collected in the Palace Museum in Taiwan. It was made by Huang Zhao, an outstanding dentist from Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, in the 28th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1763) at the Palace Building Office of the Qing Dynasty. This piece was presented by a local official. According to the “Qing Palace Archives · Palace Entry List”, “On the second day of July in the 11th year of Qianlong’s reign, Wailang, the member of the internal affairs office, was in charge of Jiujiang official affairs. Tang Yingjin had an ivory armrest of eighteen Arhat.” This armrest is a treasure of ivory carving, with its concentrated scenery, exquisite and round carving, exquisite knife technique, vivid and lifelike animal gestures, and exquisite human expressions


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