Carving

Ivory carving (sinswe pan pu). Elaborately mounted carved or plain elephant tusks, usually in pairs, are often found in front of a Burmese or Thai temple altar. They are in homage to the Buddha and have a reference to his mother who was miraculously impregnated when touched by the tusk of the white elephant. Twenty four sambodhi Buddhas in niches. Completely carved ivory tusk with Buddha figures on six registers, terminating in a pagoda. Background is cut away so figures, each in its own niche, are in full round.