Chryselephantine

Chryselephantine (Gr., from chrysos, 'gold,' and clephas, 'ivory'), the art of making statues jointly of gold and ivory, was extensively practised amongst the Greeks. It developed out of the art of wood-carving, the draperies of the wooden figures being gilded for ornament, while the faces, hands, &c. were painted white. Then the uncovered parts of the body came to be made of marble, producing Acroliths (q.v.); and ultimately ivory was used, with gilding or gold-plating. The bulk of the figure continued to be made of wood, or wood and clay; thin gold plates were fastened over the parts intended to represent clothing, while on the fleshy parts small plates of ivory were skilfully laid. The colossal works executed by Phidias in the time of Pericles are the most famous of this class, the greatest being the Athene on the Acropolis, which represented the goddess in armour, covered with a long robe, and the famous Olympian Zeus, executed in the same materials (see COLOSSUS). The combination of gold and ivory was chiefly used in statues of the gods; hence it was regarded as blameworthy arro- gance when the Macedonian kings had their family statues made of chryselephantine work. See SCULPTURE.