Scrimshaw Engraved Warthog Tusk. Smoothed down on one side with a detailed image of trees, an elephant, a rhinoceros, a water buffalo, and a lion adorning it. 

Size: 4 x  9 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. 

#6037 . 

Bone carving is creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone by engraving, painting or another technique, or the creation of a distinct formed object. As a carving material it is less hard than ivory, which allows for much finer detail, and is also less lustrous than ivory. The interior of bones are softer as well, so most uses are as thin plaques, rather than sculpture in the round. Bone carving has been practiced by a variety of world cultures over many millennia. In July 2021 scientists reported the discovery of a bone carving, one of the world’s oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51,000 years ago. It was especially prevalent in prehistoric art, with notable figures like the Swimming Reindeer, made of antler, and many of the Venus figurines and fertility sculptures. The Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket is a whale bone casket imitating earlier ivory ones, and many Medieval bone caskets were made by the Embriachi workshop of north Italy (c. 1375-1425), mostly using rows of thin plaques carved in relief. Flat bones were also routinely used by artists and craftsmen to try out their designs, especially by metalworkers. Such pieces are known as “trial-pieces.” Some of the most highly sought-after bone works by collectors are made from whalebone (baleen) and the normal skeletal whale bones, especially those turned into scrimshaw and by coastal villages in the Middle Ages.