Museum of ivory and stone sculptures ~jewelpia~

An incisor of elephant was developed and become Ivory, and takes important role for foraging activity as well as nose of elephant. It was being used as the material of the work from ancient times for the beautifulness of material, fine and also capablity of processing. In old days, It is stored in Shosoinhomotsuko(Emperor’s storehouse), it has been prized as coral and tortoiseshell.

A large Saiseki inlay folding screens made with the various colors of the natural stone. Every stones were carved and polished and combined on the board of the lacquer coating and pasted together. "Yang-gui-fei story" is made of 108 folding screens, and there is 75 m of length. "Journey to the West" is made of 61 folding screens and length 50m. Both folding screens are completed by excellent use of the material of the stone.(Some parts such as person's hair and eyes were dyed, but most are made with natural colors of stone.)

Jade was considered the "imperial gem". From the earliest Chinese dynasties to the present, the jade deposits most in use were not only those of Khotan in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang but other parts of China as well, such as Lantian, Shaanxi. There, white and greenish nephrite jade is found in small quarries and as pebbles and boulders in the rivers flowing from the Kuen-Lun mountain range eastward into the Takla-Makan desert area. The river jade collection is concentrated in the Yarkand, the White Jades (Yurungkash) and Black Jade (Karakash) Rivers. From the Kingdom of Khotan, on the southern leg of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese Imperial court and there worked into objets d'art by skilled artisans as jade had a status-value exceeding that of gold or silver.