Large antique Chinese carved woolly mammoth tusk

This magnificent item is a full-length male woolly mammoth tusk. The tusk is 10,000 to 20,000 years old and was most probably discovered in Siberia during the early 20^th Century. The tusk was then carved in China in a traditional Chinese manner: the inside curve of the length of the tusk is profusely carved with a panoply of musicians, tradesmen, birds, and other animals including a monkey and a lion—comprising approximately 50 individual figures.

The tusk is supported on a naturalistically carved hardwood stand and is signed in Chinese script.