Four ivory mortars - image-1

Lot 520 D‡α

Four ivory mortars

Auction 1174 - overview Cologne
04.06.2021, 10:00 - Highly Important Mortars from the Schwarzach Collection III
Estimate: 1.000 € - 1.500 €
Result: 3.000 € (incl. premium)
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Four ivory mortars

Turned ivory with pale to honey coloured brown patina. Baluster form mortars with protruding lower bases and turned mouldings. Three baluster form pestles (one with a breakage). Some cracks, minor losses to the edges. H 11.5 – 15.4 cm, weight c. 2.3 kg.
Iberian Peninsula / Northern Africa or Colonial, 17th - 19th C.

Mortars made of bone and ivory were produced in Asia as well as in Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The material was only suitable for grinding soft substances, less so for spices and grains. Moreover, only relatively small vessels could be produced from it, because each piece could only have the maximum diameter of the elephant tusk it was cut from.

Literature

Cf. Launert, Der Mörser, Munich 1990, no. 34 ff.