What kind of ivory is called blood tooth? What are the benefits of bloody teeth?

Ivory (xiànɡ)

As hard and white as the front teeth of the upper jaw, it can be used for sculpture and handicrafts.

Ivory is the tusk of a male elephant in a narrow sense, and it can also refer to the tusk or bone of other animals (such as mammoths, hippos, wild boars, walruses, whales and other animals) in a broad sense. Ivory is often processed into works of art, jewelry or jewelry, in addition, it is also processed into billiards and piano keys, which is a very expensive raw material.

Second, the structure

The chemical composition of teeth or tusks of all mammals is the same, so the "ivory" materials from different animals are basically the same. Different animals may have slightly different ivory colors.

Teeth and fangs are a substance. Teeth are special structures for chewing. Tusks are slender teeth that stick out their lips. They evolved from teeth and are generally used as defensive weapons. Most mammalian teeth consist of root and crown.

Teeth and tusks have the same structure, which consists of pulp, pulp cavity, dentin, cementum and enamel from the inside out.

Dentin cells on the pulp cavity wall produce dentin outward. Ivory carving is mainly composed of dentin, which is the main component of teeth or tusks. The inorganic part of dentin is mainly carbon apatite, and there are very small pipes inside dentin, which radiate from pulp cavity to cementum. The structure of the pipes in ivory of different animals is different, with diameters ranging from 0.8 to 2.2 microns. The three-dimensional structure of microtubules is different for each animal.

Three. trade

Due to the sharp decline in the number of animals producing ivory, many countries have banned the import and sale of ivory, or at least imposed great restrictions on the ivory trade. Especially in the1980s, poaching led to the death of many animals. Since 1989, with the increase or decrease of the number of elephants, ivory trade has been banned and allowed several times. Many African countries, including Zimbabwe and South Africa, emphasize that ivory trade is necessary, firstly to stimulate their economies, and secondly to control the number of elephants, otherwise the proliferation of elephants will cause damage to the environment. In 2002, the United Nations allowed some countries to export a certain amount of ivory. However, a study by Oxford University 1999 shows that only 1% of the 500 million dollars brought by ivory trade reaches Africa every year, and most of them are taken away by middlemen, so the efficiency of ivory trade to African economic development is very doubtful.

The ivory trade of mammoths has a history of more than 300 years, and the ivory trade has never been banned.

Fourth, Chinese medicine.

It comes from an elephant in the elephant family-the elephant.

Sweet and cold in nature.

Functions: clearing away heat, relieving convulsion, detoxicating and promoting granulation. Used for convulsion epilepsy; Carbuncle, sore, swelling and poison.

Usage and dosage: 1 ~ 3 RMB.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) national ceremony

The national gift of Cambodia is 1.34 cm high.

In August, 1975 was presented to Joe and ieng sary, leaders of Cambodian Patriotic Resistance Movement, during their visit to China.

Because of the warm and humid climate and dense jungle in Southeast Asia, elephants are very suitable for survival, and local people regard elephants as an indispensable means of transportation. So elephants are more common in Southeast Asia. These two ivory are the teeth of adult Asian elephants, which are huge, smooth and hard. After processing, their roots are wrapped with patterned silver pieces and embedded in mahogany seats respectively, becoming a very beautiful and imposing handicraft. (as shown at the top right)

Identification of authenticity

First, observe the color and fracture line of ivory itself. The skin carved by ivory will age. After a long time, the surface began to yellow, and then gradually changed from light yellow to turmeric and dark yellow until light brown. Moreover, the color of the same ivory vessel is often different. With the change of color, short hairs and silky shallow lines will appear on the surface of some objects, which we call "sparrow silk". The longer the dental instrument, the more birds, the darker and longer the color, and then cracks will appear. What counterfeiters make are all old ivory objects, the skin is colored but dull, there is no patina, and the crack of sparrow silk is unnatural. Smell it, there is a choking smell of smoke.

Second, from the artistic style of sculpture. For example, the Guanyin statue carved in the early Qing Dynasty has simple lines and the legacy of tooth carving in the Ming Dynasty. Because of the combination of deep and shallow knife techniques, it is round and straight, and the garment line is drooping and calm, giving people a sense of calm. Modern imitation Guanyin image has complex lines, weak three-dimensional sense and weak knife method.

Third, pay attention to old materials and new sculptures. The so-called "new carving from old materials" means carving old dental appliances into "ancient famous products", or transforming a part of old dental appliances into ancient dental carvings. In this regard, we can identify it from two aspects: material and technology.

Fourth, the discrimination of monetary knowledge. With regard to the identification of money, we should not only pay attention to the counterfeiting method of "adding money later", but also be wary of passing real money off as real money, especially for famous tooth carvings with inscriptions. For example, Yu Shuo, a master of micro-carving in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, his calligraphy is not only fresh and beautiful, but also coherent and coherent. At present, Yu Shuo's works have also been counterfeited, because they are very different from the original works because of their micro-engraving, oblique fonts, straight knives and consistent strokes.

Common counterfeiting methods of ivory carving

In the market, we often see some deliberately made old tooth carvings, the material itself is ivory, but the new ivory, in order to pretend to be the old tooth carvings, counterfeiters use various means to make the new ivory teeth yellow, so as to obtain rich profits by counterfeiting antiques. Commonly used forgery methods are as follows:

First, soak the new ivory in strong tea water and heat it, or soak it in coffee juice for weeks or months.

2. Soak the ivory products in turpentine and expose them to the sun for three or four days.

Thirdly, the new ivory is baked and frozen alternately in the oven and freezer, so that it expands with heat and contracts with cold to produce cracks, pretending to be the natural cracks of the old ivory.

4. Smoked in smoke to make the color of new ivory similar to that of old ivory. After smoking, some volatile tar-like substances are evenly attached to the surface of new ivory. However, if this method is used for counterfeiting, its color can be wiped off with a cloth stained with organic solvents such as gasoline or alcohol, and the new ivory will still retain its original natural color after being erased by the false color. Sometimes, pseudo color can be washed off with warm water and soap. Dyeing with dyes was popular in the Republic of China to achieve the purpose of aging. The overall color of dyed ivory is uniform, however, the color of ivory that naturally ages with age, the most exposed part, appears darker.

Therefore, when identifying the color of teeth, we can look at the bottom or inside of teeth to see whether the change degree of color aging is consistent with the surface. Generally, it is impossible to make the color of the surface of the artificially dyed ivory different from that of the deep inside, but the natural old ivory is different in this respect, which provides a sign for us to distinguish whether the ivory is naturally yellowed or artificially made.

Sculpture form

A mysterious ivory ball

Due to the demand of business and trade, folk artists imitated stone carving and created hollow carved ivory balls for viewing. This kind of ivory balls are interlaced and exquisite, and the surface is engraved with various relief patterns. The sphere consists of several layers of hollow spheres from the outside to the inside. It looks like a sphere on the outside, but there are several layers inside. Each ball can rotate freely and has the same center. Moreover, each set of ivory balls is carved with exquisite and complicated patterns, including flowers, dragons and phoenixes, landscape figures and so on. The balls are connected together, so it is easy to carve the outer spherical surface, but due to the limitation of construction space, it is difficult to carve many inner spherical surfaces, so the ivory ball technology will make people feel strange and mysterious. This kind of ball is called "ghost ball". In the Qing dynasty, there was greater development. At first, Guangzhou tooth carving artists borrowed from the carving form with beads at the mouth of Shishi, and after careful design and research, bold imagination and ingenious technology, they created a new ball color with ivory materials. The ivory ball developed from 65,438+0 in the beginning to 65,438+04 in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and then reached 25 or 28 in the late Qing Dynasty. At present, it can be carved to 42 floors at most, which is really a must for ivory carving in China.

Ivory Micro Sculpture and "Southern Wu and Northern Wu"

The art of ivory micro-carving has a long history in China, which appeared at the latest in the Song Dynasty, when there was already a three-dimensional micro-carving. Since the Qing Dynasty, ivory micro-carving has become more and more common, and many famous micro-sculptors have emerged, among which Wu Nanyu, who is called "the south of northern Wuzhong" by collectors, is the most famous. Yu Shuo, a famous ivory micro-carver in the south of the Yangtze River, is good at blind carving, that is, carving a knife by hand when it is not clear to the naked eye. He cuts badly, so he wants to cut the knife first, prioritize and do whatever he wants. He is handy, and his words are coherent, fluent and natural. His skill is amazing. Another Yu Shuo-famous micro-sculpture artist is Wu Nanyu. Later generations commented that he "can carve thousands of words on the ivory surface of Fiona Fang, which is impressive. You can't recognize it without magnifying the mirror, and I don't know why. This is almost the so-called uncanny workmanship "(Jo Yeo-jeong's" Encyclopedia of Antiques "). In recent years, the market price trend of ivory micro-carving works has gradually increased, and collecting ivory micro-carving works has become the goal of some savvy investors.

Wanqing ivory palace

Since the reign of Kangxi, the tooth carving craftsmen recruited to the Qing Palace have been constantly creating and manufacturing. Some of these skilled craftsmen come from Guangdong and some from Jiangsu. Of course, it is not easy for them to really satisfy the emperor. Because in the early and middle Qing Dynasty, the emperor thought that the tooth carvings in Jiangsu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jia and Guangdong were "made in foreign countries", which were rough and stupid and did not meet the taste of the imperial court. The category of the emperor's artistic standards is both elegant and exquisite. In this way, these craftsmen had to carefully compose the composition according to the requirements of the royal family, avoiding the defects of complex tooth carvings in Guangdong and sharp blades. They combined painting style and bamboo carving skills in tooth carving, which made their works look graceful and exquisite compared with the simple style in the north. Compared with the complicated carving techniques of the Southern School, it is exquisite, elegant, meticulous and concise. Some craftsmen were appreciated by the emperor because of their designs and sculptures, so they were able to get special permission from the emperor to carve their own ideas on their works. For example, the "fisherman's music" pen container and the "Yunlong pattern fire chain cover" carved by Huang Zhen Xiao, the small square box carved by Li Juelu, and the "full moon and quiet book" carved by Chen Zuzhang and others. These works are endowed with beautiful and fresh colors by skillful knife work and exquisite carving, showing all kinds of natural and elegant charm and the agility and intelligence of technicians.

traditional Chinese medicine

Ivory (theory of medicinal properties)

It comes from the teeth of Asian elephants.

Most of the scraps collected are used as medicine when carving ivory.

Most of the medicinal materials are fragmented and extremely irregular in shape. The surface is reddish or yellow, with vertical shallow grooves. It's silvery white inside. Sheet, longitudinal section has crisscross ripples, transverse section can be seen concentric wheel patterns. Hard and brittle. Odorless and tasteless. It is best to have a light red outside and a silvery white inside. The teeth of African elephants are also used as medicine.

Chemical components include calcium phosphate (57-60%), dental matrix (40-43%) and a small amount of fat. Ivory contains more organic matter, which is its characteristic.

Sweet and cold in nature.

① "Haiyao Materia Medica": "Cold."

2 "Rihuazi Herbal Medicine": "Ping."

3 Pinhui essence: "Light taste, flat nature and non-toxic."

④ Outline: "Sweet, cold and non-toxic."

Return to the classic of herbal rejuvenation: "into the heart and kidney."

Function: clearing away heat, relieving convulsion, detoxicating and promoting granulation. It can be used for treating epilepsy, fright, phlegm heat due to bone steaming, carbuncle, abscess, and hemorrhoid leakage.

① Seafood Materia Medica: "It is suitable for treating wind, epilepsy, bone strain, sore poison, etc."

2 "Rihuazi Materia Medica": "Treating urinary obstruction, fried raw; Too much urine, burning ash to drink. "

3 "Kaibao Materia Medica": "Put iron filings into the meat, scrape off the crumbs, finely grind them, and apply water to the sore surface."

④ Introduction to Medicine: "Life is the end, treating sores, hemorrhoids and fistulas, and building muscle to fill the mouth is the fastest."

⑤ The Classic of Materia Medica: "Treat malignant sores, detoxify, increase muscles, promote granulation, and eliminate leakage."

⑥ Materia Medica: "It can clear the fire of the heart and kidney, and can cure fright, wind mania, bone steaming and phlegm heat."

Oral administration and dosage: grinding, 0.5 ~ 1 RMB; Grinding juice or taking pills or powder for external use: grinding juice or grinding into powder and its application.

The prescription for treating Myrica rubra sore is: ivory San Qian, turtle shell and hedgehog skin, one as the end, jujube balls and cherries as the size, each pill, after taking for seven days, still taking the three as the end, and applying pig bile. (Drug Introduction Ivory Pills)