Ivory and the Aesthetics of Modernity in Meiji Japan

Introduction: archaeological ivories in a global perspective

“…Also, as a comparatively scarce, imported material, ivory was not subject to the various sumptuary laws that prevailed at the time, and so was a sought-after means of conspicuous consumption among commoners. As Chaiklin (2014) describes, in the following Meiji period , ivory also began to be equated with 'modernity' and a whole new aesthetic emerged as a result.…”