Turned Ivory Treasures

Some terrific images to share of impossibly complex ivory turnings created in the 17th century. Often involving intricate geometric patterns and spheres within spheres within spheres, these sorts of turnings were a preoccupation of continental nobility from the 16th through 18th centuries. The lathes they were created on were among the most sophisticated mechanical tools available at the time.
All of these images come from the Kunstkammer Georg Laue Catalogue Volume IV: “Turned Treasuries.” Georg Laue has recently published his sixth and latest lavish catalogue: “Amber Treasuries for European Kunstkammer.”
The unbelievably thin turning in the bottom image is made from a single piece of ivory and is almost a full foot tall.


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