Persian Lacquer Painting: Pen Boxes, Book Covers and Mirror Cases

Persian lacquer painting is a picture painted in watercolour on a base of papier-mache or pasteboard, which is paper pasted and pressed into a hard board, then sealed under several coats of clear varnish. Persian artists used it for book covers, pen boxes called qalamdan, mirror cases and caskets. The Met says the technique was used in Persian bookbinding from at least the fifteenth century, reached Iran from China during the Timurid period, and was developed by painters under the Safavids. The V&A says production peaked in the nineteenth century, under the Qajar dynasty.

This page explains how Persian lacquer was made, what the main objects were, who the best-known lacquer painters were, and where to see their work. It ends with the old support materials buyers ask about, painting on ivory and on camel bone, and the rules for ivory in Canada and the United States. It is part of our guide to contemporary Iranian and Persian painting.

Key takeaways

• The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by B. W. Robinson describes Persian lacquer as papier-mache, or less often wood, coated with fine gesso or plaster, painted in watercolours and covered with a transparent varnish "usually of a pale golden hue".
• The Met says painting on pasteboard under lacquer varnish was used in Persian bookbinding "from at least the fifteenth century" and came from China during the Timurid period.
• The V&A says lacquer pen boxes came into use in the seventeenth century, and that the earliest dated example was made in Isfahan for the Safavid ruler Shah Sulayman.
• The V&A attributes a lacquer casket dated 1714 to Muhammad Ali, son and leading follower of the Safavid court painter Muhammad Zaman.
• The Encyclopaedia Iranica calls the Najaf-Ali family of Isfahan, including Muhammad Isma'il, "the foremost specialists in painted lacquer" of the early Qajar period.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada says that since 8 January 2024 a permit is needed to import or export any item of worked elephant ivory, including personal and household effects.

How Persian lacquer was made

The Encyclopaedia Iranica gives two descriptions of the method. Robinson, drawing on the nineteenth-century French writer the Comte de Rochechouart, says the maker coated papier-mache, or less often wood, with a fine gesso or plaster, painted the design on that surface in watercolours, and covered the whole with a transparent lacquer or varnish that warmed the colours. Duncan Haldane's entry on bookbinding adds the steps in between: the surface was fixed with gypsum or chalk and polished, given a layer of colourless varnish, painted in water-based paints, and then sealed with several coats of transparent varnish. Haldane notes that scholars disagree whether these top coats were a varnish or a true lacquer of the kind used in China.

The board itself was made from paper. A second Iranica entry on bookbinding defines moqavva, the Persian word for papier-mache, as cardboard made by gluing waste papers in layers, or sometimes from mashed cotton or old cloth. The V&A uses the older English name "bookbinder's lacquer" for moulded pasteboard painted in colours and gold under varnish. The varnish changed how the painting looked. The Met says the layers of clear varnish give "a depth and richness of color", and LACMA says the varnish protected the painting "and added a pleasing amber glow".

Lacquer painting called on a painter's skills. Jennifer M. Scarce writes in the Encyclopaedia Iranica that "the skills required for miniature painting were concentrated on lacquer objects", and Haldane says illuminators and miniature painters played as important a part in lacquer bindings as the binders. Our page on Persian miniature painting explains those skills, and our page on Persian illumination covers the gold ornament that often framed the pictures.

The main kinds of Persian lacquer object, with dated examples named in the sources

Object	What it was for	Example in the sources	Source
Book cover	The front and back boards of a bound manuscript	Binding of a Mathnawi made in 1482 for Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat, Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul	Amirkhani, Lingua Franca
Pen box (qalamdan)	Holding reed pens, ink and a scribe's tools	Pen box painted by Muhammad Isma'il in 1847, V&A 763-1876	V&A
Mirror case	A hinged cover for a hand mirror	Mirror case by Reza Emami made for the Paris Exhibition of 1867, V&A	Encyclopaedia Iranica
Casket	A lidded box for valuables	Casket dated 1714 attributed to Muhammad Ali, son of Muhammad Zaman, V&A 2405-1876	V&A
Casket	A lidded box for valuables	Casket by Muhammad Isma'il with the siege of Herat, 1865 to 1866, Bern Historical Museum	Encyclopaedia Iranica
Box	A lidded box	Nineteenth-century box with animal scenes and Sagittarius, LACMA M.73.5.373	LACMA

From Timurid Herat to the Safavid court

The Met's page for a lacquer book cover sums up the early history. Painting on pasteboard under lacquer varnish was used in Persian bookbinding "from at least the fifteenth century". The technique originated in China and reached Iran through the wider contacts with China under the Timurid dynasty. The Met then credits painters with adopting the technique and developing it in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Safavid Iran. Our page on Chinese influence on Persian painting describes other forms that came from China.

Haldane agrees that the technique was "already known under the late Timurids" and was perfected by Safavid craftsmen. He says the earliest bindings of this kind were painted on primed leather, and that papier-mache boards replaced leather because the paint flaked off leather easily. The technique was popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in centres such as Tabriz and Isfahan, the Safavid capital from 1598, and Ottoman and Indian craftsmen copied it. One dated example from Herat is a binding for a copy of Rumi's Mathnawi made in 1482 for the library of Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat. The historian Gholamreza Amirkhani writes that "the skillful use of under-lacquer painting" in this binding reflects the advances of the fifteenth century; the manuscript is in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul.

Muhammad Zaman and the late Safavid painters

One name linked to late Safavid lacquer is Muhammad Zaman. The V&A describes him as a Safavid court artist who developed his style under Shah Sulayman. Its casket of 1714 carries the invocation "Sahib al-Zaman", Lord of Time, a title of the Twelfth Imam, which the V&A says painters named Muhammad Zaman seem to have used as a hidden signature. Because Muhammad Zaman had died by 1714, the V&A attributes the main scene on the lid to his son Muhammad Ali. The lid shows a woman of the court on a carpeted terrace, looking into a large mirror held by an attendant. The sides are painted in another style, probably by an artist of the school of Mu'in Musavvir, and are based on European prints.

In the eighteenth century, Scarce names the painter Ashraf, whose lacquer survives in "exquisitely detailed compositions of roses, irises, and birds". Robinson names Sadeq, who worked in oils, miniature painting and lacquer in the second half of the eighteenth century, and whose signature appears on lacquer pieces dated in the last decade of that century, possibly made by his pupils.

The pen box, or qalamdan

The V&A explains that the qalamdan was a container for reed pens, called qalam, and other writing tools. A pen box usually held a small metal inkwell with a pad of silk floss called liqah that soaked up the ink and stopped it spilling, a penknife and a small board called a qat'zan for cutting pens, a spoon for adding ink, scissors for paper, and a whetstone for sharpening the blades. The V&A adds that writing carried prestige where few people could read and write, so a pen box marked its owner as a person of standing, and the quality of its painting showed that standing more precisely.

According to the V&A, lacquer pen boxes came into use in the seventeenth century, the earliest dated example was made in Isfahan for Shah Sulayman, and by the nineteenth century they were made in "huge numbers" with a wide variety of decoration. The V&A quotes the British scholar Sir William Ouseley, writing in the early nineteenth century, who said that Isfahan supplied most provinces with pen cases "made, like the book-covers, of pasteboard". Ouseley listed their common subjects as battles and hunting parties, and said the favourite scene from the romances was Nizami's story of Khusrau and Shirin. Our page on the Khamsa of Nizami in painting tells that story.

Qajar lacquer

Scarce writes that lacquer "flourished during the Qajar period". Under Fath-Ali Shah, who ruled from 1797 to 1834, painters followed Ashraf's roses and birds and added hunting and court scenes. The court painter Mirza Baba painted the lacquer covers of the manuscript of the shah's poems given to King George III. Robinson names two painters who signed the new lacquer covers commissioned by Fath-Ali Shah for the great Nizami manuscript of Shah Tahmasp, both showing the king hunting: Sayyed Mirza on the front cover and Muhammad-Baqer on the back. Robinson places that manuscript in the British Museum.

The Najaf-Ali family and Muhammad Isma'il

Robinson calls one family "the foremost specialists in painted lacquer" of the early Qajar period. Its first member, Najaf-Ali, has dated work from 1815 to 1856 and always signed with a play on his name, "ya shah-e Najaf". His younger brother Muhammad Isma'il and his three sons Muhammad Kazem, Ja'far and Ahmad all worked in lacquer, and Muhammad Isma'il received the title naqqash-bashi, painter laureate. Scarce calls him court painter to Nasir al-Din Shah. His masterpiece, in Robinson's view, is a casket in the Bern Historical Museum covered with scenes of Muhammad Shah's siege of Herat, with hundreds of tiny figures, dated 1865 to 1866. Robinson credits this family above all for making the third quarter of the nineteenth century "the most brilliant period in the history of Persian lacquer and enamel painting".

The V&A owns a pen box signed by Muhammad Isma'il and dated 1847. Its lid shows Manuchihr Khan, the governor of Isfahan, seated among twenty-six courtiers, many of them named in inscriptions, with hunting scenes on the sides. The V&A says that from 1839 and 1840, when Manuchihr Khan lived in Isfahan, lacquer wares showing his deeds were painted by "the city's leading painter, Muhammad Isma'il". The Brooklyn Museum lists him as Muhammad Isma'il Isfahani, active 1847 to 1871.

Other Qajar lacquer painters

Robinson names Aqa Bozorg Shirazi, whose finest pen box, dated 1852 to 1853 and placed by Robinson in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Tehran, carries portraits of the governor Farhad Mirza's ministers and a self-portrait of the painter at work on a qalamdan. In the second half of the century the Emami family of Isfahan became prominent. Reza Emami painted a mirror case covered with flowers and gold scrollwork for the Paris Exhibition of 1867, which Robinson calls the best piece of lacquer in the V&A. Muhammad Hosayni Emami worked in the traditional style in the 1870s, and Nasrallah Emami liked to add hazelnuts to his designs. Robinson ends his list with Fathallah Shirazi and with Abd al-Latif and Abd al-Hosayn, both titled Sani al-Homayun, whose work continued into the early 1900s. The Met owns a pen box of 1902 by Muhammad-i Qalamdansaz, "Muhammad the pen-box maker", who signed it with a play on his own name and the Prophet's.

Subjects on Persian lacquer

The Met lists the subjects found on pen boxes: historic events; battle, hunting and feasting scenes; illustrations from poetry and other literature; portraits; flowers, birds and butterflies; and patterns of scrolls and arabesques. Robinson says the designs met most often on lacquer of every period are forms of the rose and nightingale, gol o bolbol, which our page on symbols in Persian painting explains. History painting appears too. A large V&A pen box of 1850 to 1876 shows the battle of Chaldiran of 1514, with Shah Isma'il cutting the commander of the Janissaries in two, and the V&A says the scene is adapted from the wall paintings of the Chehel Sotun palace in Isfahan.

The Met calls European influence "pervasive" in the Qajar period. Its lacquer book cover with Christian themes, probably by a Qajar artist in the circle of Najaf-Ali, uses European shading, perspective and atmosphere, and the Met says its biblical scenes came from European prints and paintings. A Met pen box of the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century shows cows, horses and seated groups in a landscape that the museum compares with Dutch landscape painting. Robinson adds that lacquer painters copied young men in dressing gowns and young women in bonnets from French prints. Our page on Qajar painting places this European turn in the wider art of the period.

Quality varied. The V&A says the large rise in output in the nineteenth century lowered the quality of much Qajar lacquer, while certain artists in Shiraz, Isfahan and Tehran kept making fine pieces. It says lacquer went out of fashion after the fall of the Qajar dynasty. The Met adds that lacquer painters "took great pride in their individual styles" and showed it by signing and dating their works.

Painting on ivory and on camel bone

People searching for Persian painting often meet two other supports, ivory and camel bone. The sources we found say little about either in Persian art.

Ivory

The Brooklyn Museum owns a small Qajar portrait of Ghahreman Mirza, brother of Muhammad Shah, possibly by Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari, Sani al-Molk, and catalogues it as "ink and opaque watercolor on ivory or shell". The museum's own record leaves the support open. Ivory pen boxes were also made in India: LACMA holds an eighteenth-century carved ivory pen box made in Rajasthan or the Mughal Empire. So check both the material and the place of origin of any piece sold as Persian ivory. The US Fish and Wildlife Service advises buyers to ask for documents that show the species and age of an ivory item, such as CITES permits or certificates, certified appraisals, or records of the date and place of manufacture.

The CITES Identification Guide for Ivory and Ivory Substitutes, published in 2020, lists bone among the materials used as substitutes for ivory and says compact bone is the kind most often used. Its authors include current and former scientists of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Forensic Laboratory. Bone is full of fine canals, which show as small pits or scratch-like marks on a polished surface under a 10x hand lens. The guide also warns that some online sellers describe real elephant ivory as bone to avoid platform filters. A seller's description of the material is a claim; for a costly object, ask for a written statement of the material and, if needed, a specialist's examination.

Camel bone

Painted camel bone is a common search phrase, and the results lead to dealers, auction listings and workshops in Isfahan. We looked for a museum, encyclopedia or university source that describes Persian painting on camel bone and found none, so this page makes no claim about when the practice began or how old any piece is. Treat a seller's history of camel bone painting as the seller's own account, and ask for the material in writing, for the reason the CITES guide gives above.

Ivory rules in Canada and the United States

Elephant ivory is regulated in both countries. The rules below are summarized from the official pages on 27 September 2026. They change, so check the current page and ask the authority named before you buy, ship or sell.

Elephant ivory rules for buyers in Canada and the United States, as stated on the official pages

Question	Canada (Environment and Climate Change Canada)	United States (US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Owning an item	Canadians may still own legally obtained elephant ivory	Owning or displaying lawfully acquired ivory is allowed under federal law
Bringing worked ivory into the country	A Canadian CITES import permit and a foreign CITES export document are needed for all worked elephant ivory, from 8 January 2024	Commercial import of African elephant ivory is prohibited. Asian elephant ivory may be imported commercially only as an ESA antique. Some noncommercial imports, such as a household move or an inheritance, are allowed with CITES documents
Old items	The permit rule also covers items acquired before July 1975	An ESA antique must be 100 years or older and meet the other listed conditions, which the owner must show
Selling	The page covers import and export permits	Sale across state lines is prohibited except for ESA antiques and some items with a small amount of ivory; some states have stricter laws
Contact	CITES Canada, cites@ec.gc.ca, 1-855-869-8670	US Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement ports

In the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service says the ESA antique exemption, named for the Endangered Species Act, requires an item to be 100 years or older, to contain an ESA-listed species, to have no repair or change with such a species after 27 December 1973, and to have been imported through one of the designated "antique ports". The person claiming the exemption has to show that the item qualifies. The Service says a near-total ban on commercial trade in African elephant ivory took effect on 6 July 2016. In Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada says permits for worked ivory are now required even for personal and household effects, and that the rule also applies to items harvested before July 1975.

These rules apply when the support itself, or a frame or box, is or may be elephant ivory. Our page on how to buy Iranian art covers the separate sanctions rules for works that come from Iran.

Where to see Persian lacquer

The V&A in London holds the dated pen boxes and the 1714 casket described above, and Robinson places Reza Emami's 1867 mirror case there. The Met in New York holds pen boxes and a lacquer book cover. LACMA in Los Angeles holds a nineteenth-century lacquer box from Iran. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington showed Qajar lacquerwares with royal portraits in its 2018 exhibition The Prince and the Shah. In Europe, the Bern Historical Museum holds Muhammad Isma'il's casket, according to Robinson. Our page on where to see Persian art in Canada and the USA lists more museums; check with each museum what is on view before a visit.

Lacquer painting and our gallery

Our gallery's link to lacquer painting is the painter's craft that lacquer shared with the book arts. Kamal al-Din Ghotb, whose page says he has practised Persian painting for 41 years, paints in oil and gold on paper in the classical miniature tradition. His Muraqqa': The Blue Robe is an album page that, in the words of its product page, gathers "a different craft of the Persian book arts" in each panel, including bands of marbled paper, a botanical study and a black-ink drawing of a bird. See more in the Kamal al-Din Ghotb collection. Every painting ships free and insured, with a 14-day return from delivery, a full refund and return shipping paid by us.

Frequently asked questions

What is Persian lacquer painting?

Persian lacquer painting is a watercolour picture painted on papier-mache or pasteboard and sealed under clear varnish. The Encyclopaedia Iranica describes the board coated with gesso or plaster, painted, and covered with a pale golden varnish. Persian artists used it for book covers, pen boxes, mirror cases and caskets from the fifteenth century until the end of the Qajar dynasty, according to the Met and the V&A.

What is Persian papier-mache made of?

Persian papier-mache, called moqavva, is a hard board made by gluing waste papers in layers, or sometimes from mashed cotton or old cloth, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. For lacquer, the board was coated with gypsum, chalk or gesso, polished, painted in water-based colours, and sealed with several coats of transparent varnish, which the Met says gives the colours depth and richness.

What is a qalamdan?

A qalamdan is a Persian pen box, from qalam, a reed pen. The V&A says it usually held a metal inkwell with silk floss, a penknife, a cutting board, a small spoon, scissors and a whetstone. Lacquer pen boxes came into use in the seventeenth century, and the V&A says a fine one marked its owner as a person of standing.

When did Persian lacquer pen boxes first appear?

Persian lacquer pen boxes came into use in the seventeenth century, according to the V&A. The museum says the earliest dated example was made in Isfahan for the Safavid ruler Shah Sulayman, and that by the nineteenth century lacquer pen boxes were made in huge numbers, painted with flowers, birds, battles, hunts, portraits and scenes from poetry.

Where did Persian lacquer painting come from?

Persian lacquer painting came from China, according to the Met, which says painting on pasteboard under lacquer varnish reached Iran through contacts with China under the Timurids. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says the technique was known under the late Timurids and perfected under the Safavids. A binding made in Herat in 1482 for Sultan Husayn Bayqara is a dated example from that time.

Who was Muhammad Zaman?

Muhammad Zaman was a Safavid court painter who developed his style under Shah Sulayman, according to the V&A. Painters of that name seem to have used the invocation "Sahib al-Zaman", Lord of Time, as a hidden signature. The V&A's lacquer casket of 1714 is painted in his style, and because he had died by then, the museum attributes it to his son Muhammad Ali.

Who was Muhammad Isma'il, the Qajar lacquer painter?

Muhammad Isma'il was a lacquer painter of Isfahan, younger brother of Najaf-Ali, and painter laureate to the Qajar court, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. The V&A calls him the city's leading painter and owns his pen box of 1847 showing the governor Manuchihr Khan with twenty-six courtiers. His casket of the siege of Herat, dated 1865 to 1866, is in the Bern Historical Museum.

Who were the Emami family of lacquer painters?

The Emami family were lacquer painters of Isfahan who became prominent in the second half of the nineteenth century, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. Reza Emami painted a mirror case for the Paris Exhibition of 1867 that the Iranica calls the best lacquer in the V&A. Muhammad Hosayni Emami painted in the traditional style in the 1870s, and Nasrallah Emami added hazelnuts to his designs.

What subjects appear on Persian lacquer pen boxes?

Persian lacquer pen boxes show historic events, battles, hunts, feasts, scenes from poetry, portraits, flowers, birds and arabesques, according to the Met. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says the rose and nightingale is the design met most often. The V&A holds a pen box with the battle of Chaldiran of 1514, adapted from the wall paintings of the Chehel Sotun palace in Isfahan.

What do museum sources say about Persian painting on camel bone?

Persian painting on camel bone has no description in any museum, encyclopedia or university source we could find, so we make no claim about its history or age. The CITES ivory identification guide lists bone among the materials used as substitutes for ivory, and notes that some sellers call real ivory bone. Ask any seller to state the material in writing.

Can I bring a Persian painting on ivory into Canada?

A Persian painting on elephant ivory needs permits to enter or leave Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada says that from 8 January 2024 all worked elephant ivory needs a Canadian CITES import permit and a CITES export document from the other country, including personal effects and items acquired before July 1975. Contact CITES Canada at cites@ec.gc.ca before buying.

Can an antique ivory miniature be sold across US state lines?

An antique ivory miniature can be sold across US state lines only if it qualifies as an ESA antique or, for African elephant ivory, falls under the small-amount exception, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. An ESA antique must be 100 years or older, free of repairs with protected species made after 27 December 1973, and imported through an antique port, and the seller must show it qualifies. Some states have stricter laws.

References

1. ART IN IRAN x.2 Qajar Painting. Basil William Robinson, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1986; Internet Archive copy of 21 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The lacquer method, the Najaf-Ali and Emami families, Aqa Bozorg Shirazi, Sadeq, and the rose and nightingale on lacquer.
2. ART IN IRAN x.1 Art and Architecture of the Qajar Period. Jennifer M. Scarce, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1986; Internet Archive copy of 25 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Qajar lacquer objects, Ashraf, Mirza Baba's covers and Muhammad Isma'il.
3. BOOKBINDING (article 1). Duncan Haldane, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1989; Internet Archive copy of 27 August 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The late Timurid origin, the steps of the technique, and the role of painters and illuminators.
4. BOOKBINDING (article 2). Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 20 July 2005; Internet Archive copy of 10 December 2024. Accessed 27 September 2026. The definition of moqavva, Persian papier-mache.
5. Bookcover with Christian Themes. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 34.23. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 15 July 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. The Chinese and Timurid origin of the technique, its Safavid and Qajar history, and the effect of the varnish.
6. Pen Box (Qalamdan). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.206.2a, b. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 11 November 2024. Accessed 27 September 2026. The subjects painted on pen boxes and European influence.
7. Pen Box (Qalamdan) with Bird and Flower Design. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.206.1a to c. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 14 December 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Signed and dated lacquer and the pen box of 1902 by Muhammad-i Qalamdansaz.
8. Pen box. Muhammad Isma'il Isfahani, Victoria and Albert Museum, 763-1876. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The contents and meaning of a qalamdan, the earliest dated lacquer pen box, and the 1847 pen box.
9. Pen box (qalamdan). Victoria and Albert Museum, 761:1-1876. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The Chaldiran pen box, Ouseley's account of Isfahan pen cases, and the later history of Qajar lacquer.
10. Box. Victoria and Albert Museum, 2405-1876. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The 1714 casket, the Sahib al-Zaman signature, Muhammad Zaman and Muhammad Ali.
11. Box. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.73.5.373. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. A nineteenth-century lacquer box from Iran and the effect of the varnish.
12. Pen Box (qalamdan). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.86.190.3a-d. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. An eighteenth-century carved ivory pen box made in India.
13. Portrait of Ghahreman Mirza, brother of Mohammad Shah Qajar. Brooklyn Museum, 2009.21. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 17 October 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. A Qajar portrait catalogued as on "ivory or shell".
14. The Art of Bookbinding in Fifteenth-Century Khorasan. Gholamreza Amirkhani, translated by Esmail Yazdanpour, Lingua Franca, issue 9. Published 2023. Accessed 27 September 2026. The 1482 Mathnawi binding with under-lacquer painting.
15. Identification Guide for Ivory and Ivory Substitutes, 4th edition. Barry W. Baker, Rachel L. Jacobs, Mary-Jacque Mann, Edgard O. Espinoza and Giavanna Grein, CITES Secretariat and World Wildlife Fund. Published 2020. Accessed 27 September 2026. Bone as an ivory substitute, how to see bone's canals, and sellers who describe ivory as bone.
16. Elephant Ivory FAQs. US Fish and Wildlife Service. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 18 July 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Ownership, import, sale and the ESA antique exemption.
17. Import and export of elephant tusk (ivory) and rhinoceros horn. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The permit rules in force from 8 January 2024.
18. Muraqqa': The Blue Robe. VanArtHub. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The panels and medium of the painting.

Checked 27 September 2026. If something here is out of date, write to us and we will correct it.