THE ELEPHANT IN THE ARTS.
The elephant has figured prominently in the arts from the earliest times.
The first artist in ivory was undoubtedly contemporaneous with the
mammoth; as upon a piece of mammoth’s tusk, taken from a cave in France,
there is a rude but quite correct representation of one of these huge
animals: and the figure of the elephant seems to have been a favorite
with the sculptors of all times. On the island of Elephanta, there are
the remains of an ancient statue of an elephant. A fine cutting of an
Indian species with young was found upon the walls of Pompeii; and the
animal is often seen on the bas-reliefs along the Nile (Plate XXII).
It is upon medals, however, that the elephant figured most prominently,
these now valued relics having been struck off in honor of the ancient
kings and queens to commemorate their deeds of valor. An interesting
medal (Plate XXI., Fig. 1) was struck in honor of Tranquillina, the
wife of Gordian; the Romans at this time, in a spirit of poetical
exaggeration, choosing the elephant as a symbol of eternity. The legend
“Æternitas Aug.” is expressive of a wish that the emperor shall live as
long as an elephant, which was then believed to be three or four hundred
years.
The sagacity of the elephant is often referred to in the ancient
mythology of the Hindoos; and Ganessa, the god of wisdom, is represented
in the temples of India with a human body and an elephant’s head:
curiously enough, several ancient medals show the head of Socrates united
with that of an elephant in connection with two other heads. Plate XXI.,
Fig. 2, is explained by Chifletius as referring to the trial of Socrates;
and the two heads are supposed to be those of Anytus and Melitus, his
accusers. This, however, has been questioned. A Neapolitan medal (Plate
XXI., Fig. 3), supposed to be antique, represents an elephant standing
before the tripod of Apollo, upon which the sacrificial fire is burning.
Medals are in existence in Europe, showing the pretended religion of the
elephant. Such a one was struck by Cardinal Zabrella (Plate XXI., Fig.
4), and shows one of these animals worshipping the moon.
In the “Museum Cuspinianum,” edited by Laurentius, there is figured a
medal (Plate XXII., Fig. 5) which is supposed to represent Alexander
after his conquest in Persia, entering through the gate of a city, or a
triumphal arch, in a chariot drawn by four elephants. On the other side
of the medal, the head of Alexander is shown, with Neptune on one side of
his helmet. Some experts consider this medal as spurious.
Alexander figures on many medals, and a very fine one (Plate XXI., Fig.
6) represents his head covered with an elephant’s skin. On the reverse
is Minerva, armed with a helmet, shield, and spear; and before her an
eagle holding lightning in his talons. Berger supposes it to refer to the
defeat of the elephants of Porus.
Quite similar in general appearance to this is a medal (Plate XXI., Fig.
7) supposed to represent Ptolemy Philadelphus. The head of an elephant,
or the skin of the head, is used as a head-covering, the tusks extending
over the head as in a Roman medallion of Africa (Plate XXII., Fig. 9).
The last record of the elephant in Syria is found upon a coin (Plate
XXI., Fig. 8) struck in honor of Antiochus, who was raised to the throne
in the two hundred and twenty-fifth year of the era of the Seleucidæ, 87
B.C. The elephant is represented as bearing a torch, according to the
custom of the Syrian monarchs, with the horn of plenty behind him. Julius
Cæsar had many medals struck off in his honor. One (Plate XXII., Fig. 10)
represents his head, the reverse being a triumphal chariot drawn by four
elephants, and is supposed by experts to relate to the conquest of Juba
and the Mauri in Africa. Another medal, which was struck by the Emperor
Trajan (Plate XXI., Fig. 11), in honor of Julius Cæsar, represents an
elephant trampling upon a serpent, probably relating to the same event.
The Emperor Augustus was voted by the senate a triumphal arch, a
chariot drawn by two elephants, and a statue, for the great deeds he
accomplished; all of which is recorded on a medal (Plate XXI., Fig.
12). After the death of Augustus, his statue was conveyed on a chariot
by four elephants to the circus, after which the games commenced, this
post-funereal honor being also commemorated by a medal. Caligula was also
thus honored by the senate; and a medal (Plate XXI., Fig. 13) pictures
him sitting upon the chariot, as a god surrounded by stars. Nero and his
mother, Agrippina, are represented (Plate XXI., Fig. 14) in a somewhat
similar position.
The inventive genius of Severus in suggesting new pleasures was
commemorated in a medal (Plate XXI., Fig. 15) which represents numerous
animals, including the elephant, about a ship which, loaded with
ferocious animals, he sailed on a small lake for the diversion of his
favorites.
One of the finest elephant medals extant represents the statue of
Pertinax drawn by four elephants in a triumphal chariot after his death
(Plate XXII., Fig. 16); and these are but a few that are to be found in
collections in various parts of the world, but show that the elephant
took an important part in all the deeds of the great men of the time.
The ivory of elephants has been employed in artistic work since very
early times. The British Museum has specimens of ivory plaques of rich
design taken from Nineveh, which are supposed to date from 900 B.C. The
execution in some is very fine; many figures being in high, and some in
low, relief, but all showing that the worker was an expert in the art.
“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.)
The use of ivory in art-work had preceded this many years. From the
time of the Trojan war, they had used ivory arms and furniture; and two
hundred years later we hear of Solomon introducing it in Judæa. “Once in
three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory,
and apes and peacocks;” and being thus supplied with the elephants’ teeth
of India, “the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with
the best gold.” One hundred years after Solomon, the sacred historian
speaks of “the ivory house of King Ahab” as so wonderful, that it is
enumerated in Chronicles with all the cities that he built. “The ivory
house of Ahab,” and “the ivory palaces” of the forty-fifth psalm, no
doubt referred to buildings profusely ornamented with ivory.
Phidias, then, must have been familiar with ivory-work, having such
illustrious examples in history; but none of his predecessors had
attempted the stupendous works which rendered him famous. Unfortunately
the creations of this celebrated artist were all destroyed, and we have
only the descriptions left.
When Greece fell, her oppressors, the Turks, a race of barbarians,
destroyed all the grand works in marble they could find. For two or three
hundred years, they pounded up the beautiful statues of the Parthenon
to obtain lime to make their miserable hovels; and it is probably to
them that is due the destruction of the works of chryselephantine
(gold and ivory) statuary that were so celebrated, that almost every
ancient writer described them. One was so richly ornamented with gold,
that Pericles mentions it as one of the resources for carrying on the
Peloponnesian war. The gold was stolen, and carried off by Leochares
during the siege of Athens by Demetrius.
The masterpiece of Phidias was the Jupiter of Olympia. “The god,” says
Pausanias, “made of gold and ivory, is seated upon a throne. On his head
is a crown, representing an olive-branch. In his right hand he carries
a Victory, also of gold and ivory, holding a wreath, and having a crown
upon her head. In the left hand of the god is a sceptre, shining with all
sorts of metals. The bird placed upon the summit of the sceptre is an
eagle. The sandals of the god are of gold, and his mantle is also golden.
The figures of various animals, and of all sorts of flowers, particularly
lilies, are painted upon it. The throne is a diversified assemblage of
gold, of precious stones, of ivory, and of ebony, in which figures of all
kinds are also painted or sculptured.”
Curiously enough, this writer does not give the dimensions of the work,
an omission that is supplied by Strabo. “Phidias,” he says, “had made
his Jupiter sitting, and touching almost the summit of the roof of the
temple: so that it appeared, that, if the god had risen up, he would
have lifted off the roof. The interior of the temple is said to have
been sixty feet high, and the statue was about forty-eight feet in
height.” Equalling if not rivalling Phidias in the estimation of some,
was Polycletus, who produced the Juno of Argos. His works were not on so
grand a scale as his contemporary Phidias, but excelled them in beauty
and execution. Pausanias thus describes his masterpiece: “The statue of
Juno is seated on a throne. Her size is extraordinary. She is of gold
and ivory. On her head is a crown, whereon are worked the figures of the
Hours and Graces. In one hand she holds the sceptre, in the other the
fruit of the pomegranate.” Maximus Tyrius says, “Polycletus enabled the
Argives to contemplate the queen of the gods in all her majesty. She is
seated upon a throne of gold, where we admire the whiteness of her breast
and arms of ivory.”
The Minerva of the Parthenon, a gold and ivory statue, was a marvellous
piece of work, and one of the earliest productions of Phidias. There is
no known description of it, though frequent allusions to it are found in
the works of ancient writers. From Plato, we learn that the gold on the
statue predominated over the ivory. “Phidias,” he says, “made neither the
eyes, nor the face, nor the feet, nor the hands, of his Minerva of gold,
but of ivory;” and Plutarch records the fact that Phidias arranged to
meet his critics, by so disposing the gold about the statue that it could
be taken off and weighed, if his honesty was doubted.
After the death of Alexander, statues of himself and family, in gold and
ivory, were placed in the Philippeum of Olympia. The funeral monument of
Hephæstion was ornamented with statues of ivory and gold.
The successors of Alexander made lavish use of ivory. Ptolemy
Philadelphus, at the time of his triumph in Egypt, was followed by six
hundred elephants’ tusks borne by slaves; and, according to Quatremère
de Quincy, some of the many statues drawn upon the cars in his triumphal
march were of gold and ivory.
To show the abundance of ivory at this time, Ptolemy used it to build a
portico in his favorite ship, described by Athenæus.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.
STATUE OF JUPITER. (_Made of Ivory and Gold, by Phidias._)
_Pages 217 and 236._]
According to Dion Cassius, Cæsar caused a statue of himself to be
executed in ivory; and Passiteles, a contemporary of Pompey, executed an
ivory statue of Jupiter for the temple built by Metellus. The doors of
the Palatium, which Augustus raised after the victory of Actium, were of
ivory. A similar statue was decreed to Germanicus by the senate, and the
Emperor Titus had an equestrian statue executed in honor of Britannicus.
Colossal statues of ivory continued in favor under the Romans, and
Phidias had many followers: thus Adrian had completed the temple of
Jupiter at Athens; he erected in it a large statue of gold and ivory.
These grand works fell into disuse when Christianity was established
under Constantine, and probably many of these works of art were destroyed
at this time. All that remain of the vast numbers of ivory statues is
a figure about eight inches in height, and the works referred to on
previous pages.
At the present day, ivory sculpture is confined to small figures of
various kinds, the most extensive work being done by the Chinese and
Japanese artists: the latter delight in the grotesque productions of
their art.
According to the Davenport Academy of Sciences, to which I am indebted
for permission to use the accompanying engravings, the mastodon figured
in the arts of the mound-builders. The pipes shown in Plate XVIII.
presumably represent a proboscidian; and many notable archæologists
believe that the pipe-makers were familiar with the mastodon, and
perpetuated its form in the pipes. According to Mr. Charles E. Putnam,
president of the Academy, one of the pipes was found, in 1880, in a mound
on the farm of Mr. P. Hass, in Louisa County, Io., the discoverer being
the Rev. A. Blumer, a Lutheran clergyman, who presented the pipe to
the Academy. The other pipe was obtained by Rev. J. Goss from a farmer
in the same county, who found it while planting corn on his farm some
time previous. The famous big elephant mound in Grant County, Wis., is
supposed to represent an elephant in profile, the huge, pillar-like legs
and the trunk being plainly seen; though it might well have been intended
to represent any other animal of like shape.