The differences between Asian rhino horn and African rhino horn are: different shape, different horn marrow, different texture, different color.
First, the appearance is different
1, The Asian rhino horn has only one horn, the horn is short, and the largest Indian rhino horn is only 30 cm.
2. The African rhino horn has two horns, the horn is long, the longest can reach 80 cm.
Second, the horn marrow is different
1. Buffalo horn can be seen in the cross-section around the central cascading white circle horn pulp (horn prion layer), asian rhino horn does not.
2. The African rhino horn only has a broad-sided horn marrow on the periphery, and there is no layered overlay, which is a tubular aggregate.
The picture shows a common horn imitation on the market
Third, the pattern is different
1, the Asian rhino horn "bamboo silk pattern" is thick, the surface of the sugarcane silk pattern is thick Asian rhinoceros.
2, the African rhino horn "bamboo silk pattern" is fine, and the finer silk is the African rhinoceros.
Fourth, the color is different
1, the upper part of the Asian rhino horn is dark, the lower part is clear, and there is a raised "dungeon" at the bottom of the "gutter" in front of the "cloud head rain foot" horn. Due to its age, it is usually dark yellow or dark brown, and the lights are almost opaque.
2. African rhinoceros horn products are honey or maroon, the color is purer, translucent.
African rhinoceros and sub-rhinoceros in the price of a big difference, in the past thirty years, due to the high price of rhino horn, there are a lot of rhino horn smuggled in from Africa, but also by counterfeiters to carve some antique works, pretending to be Asian rhino horn, this should also be vigilant, all the Ming Dynasty style works carved with African rhino horn, are worth seriously discerning, nine times out of ten are modern imitations, (there were also a small number of African rhino horn products before the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, but the number was very small). Now strictly prohibited, modern do not buy can avoid a lot of risks.
Judging the old and new horns of the rhinoceros depends on the carving, depending on the style of which era the work belongs to. From the collection of the Forbidden City, it can be seen that the Style of the Rhino horn cup in the Ming Dynasty is atmospheric, round, dissatisfied with the pattern, solemn and noble, while the Qing Dynasty Rhino Horn carving is complicated and deliberately shows the engraving skills, which is the difference in style of rhino horn carving of the two dynasties.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a sea ban, most of the rhino horns were smuggled from Africa, Java, India, the materials are scarce and precious, so the sculptors use grinder bas-reliefs, and the Qing Dynasty shipping further developed, imported materials increased, and more dignitaries bought directly from abroad, and the sculptors were able to show the engraving on the rhino horns with high reliefs and openwork carvings.
Below enjoy some of the authors of Mocao Art's own collection of beautiful legal old material horn products.
This article is original by The Desert Grass Craft, more secrets about the old horn carving, welcome to the comment area to participate in the discussion!