The difference between Asian rhino horn and African rhino horn is: different shape, different horn pulp, different texture, and 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 rhinoceros horn has two horns, the horn is long, and the longest can reach 80 cm.
Second, the corneal cord is different
1. The white circle-shaped horn pulp (horn prion) cascaded around the center can be seen in the cross-section, while the Asian rhino horn does not.
2. African rhinoceros horn only has a circle of broad-sided horn pith on the periphery, without layers of casing, in a tubular aggregate.
The picture shows the common bull horn imitation on the market
Third, the texture is different
1. The Asian rhino horn "bamboo silk pattern" is thick, and the thick sugar cane silk pattern on the surface is 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, and the lower part is clear, and it is said that there is a "gutter" in front of the "cloud head and rain feet" horn, and there is a raised "mound" at the bottom. Due to its age, it is usually dark yellow or dark brown, and the lamp is almost opaque.
2. African rhino horn products are honey or chestnut, pure in color and translucent.
African rhino and sub-rhino in the price of very different, in the past thirty years, due to the high price of rhino horn, there are many rhino horn smuggled in from Africa, but also counterfeiters to carve some antique works, pretending to be Asian rhino horn, this should also be vigilant, all African rhino horn carved Ming style works, are worth careful identification, nine times out of ten are modern imitations, (before the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties there were also a small number of African rhino horn products, but the number was very small). Now it is strictly prohibited, and modern ones do not buy to avoid a lot of risks.
To judge the new and old rhino horns, it is necessary to look at the carving and the style of which era the work belongs to. It can be seen from the collection of the Forbidden City that the style of the Ming Dynasty rhino horn cup is atmospheric, round, dissatisfied, solemn and noble, while the Qing Dynasty rhino horn carving is complicated and deliberately shows the carving skills, which is the difference in style between the two dynasties' rhino horn carving.
Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a sea ban, most of the rhino horn is smuggled from Africa, Java, India, the material is scarce and precious, so the sculptor uses milling bas-relief, and the Qing Dynasty shipping further developed, imported materials increased, and more officials directly bought from abroad, sculptors were able to use high relief carving, openwork carving on the rhino horn to show carving.
Admire some of the author's Mo Grass Craft and collect beautiful legal old corner products.
This article is original by Mocao Craft, more secrets about the old horn carving, welcome to the comment area to participate in the discussion!