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Description: | Crocodile-tooth Tinder-tube (length 3 3/4 ins), apparently unfinished, having never had collar, cap, or lining-tube of metal; exterior of tooth beautifully carved; on tip, a small female figure, seated on the back of a lion, right hand resting on knee, left hand raised shoulder-high; larger end carved in open-work, pierced to interior, to represent interlaced foliage, among which are cherubs, birds, and flowers; on tip, a ring of steel for attachment of chain (missing). [One of thirteen specimens (nos 890-902). Each is made from a crocodile tooth. 'The open end of the tubes have a fixed collar, generally of silver, but sometimes of gold or brass ... The exterior of the tooth is, in most cases, beautifully carved, generally into the form of a lady attired in a European costume of the Eighteenth Century and holding a fan, the figure being curiously bent backwards following the curve of the tooth. In somes cases, however, the carving is either absent or of very poor artistic merit. The thirteen examples, all collected by Mr. Bidwell, comprise, with two exceptions, all that are known to exist anywhere. All came, Mr Bidwell believes, from Goa... and all are doubtless of native workmanship.'] | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ | Source: | Science Museum | Identifier: | 1937-682/899 | Go to resource |
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