牙雕

yádiāo

noun

Measure Word

一件牙雕 jiàn

Meanings

1 ivory carving (the art and the carved object)

Characters

Examples

故宫博物院藏有许多精美的牙雕。

Gùgōng Bówùyuàn cáng yǒu xǔduō jīngměi de yádiāo.

The Palace Museum holds many exquisite ivory carvings.

由于禁止象牙贸易，传统牙雕工艺面临困境。

Yóuyú jìnzhǐ xiàngyá màoyì, chuántǒng yádiāo gōngyì miànlín kùnjìng.

Because of the ivory trade ban, traditional ivory carving has fallen on hard times.

Tips

culture

Beijing and Guangzhou are the two historic centers of Chinese 牙雕 — the Guangzhou school is famed for hollow concentric ivory balls (鬼工球), some with over 50 nested layers. China banned domestic ivory trade in 2017, so contemporary craftsmen now work with mammoth ivory or substitute materials.

Stroke Order

牙 yá

雕 diāo