Extracts from Committee stage (Lords)(day1) of the Ivory Bill - Sep 10
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Lord De Mauley (Con):...Regardless of whether some exports of
low-value large ivory carvings may have been bought for recarving
by workshops in the Far East, the same cannot be said of small
carvings such as Japanese netsuke. They are already too small to be
worth purchasing with the intention of turning them into something
else and invariably have a hole passing through them, which would
also make recarving pointless. As I said, our ivory export numbers
are small, so the UK is not supplying...Request free trial
Lord De Mauley (Con):...Regardless of
whether some exports of low-value large ivory carvings may have
been bought for recarving by workshops in the Far East, the same
cannot be said of small carvings such as Japanese netsuke. They are
already too small to be worth purchasing with the intention of
turning them into something else and invariably have a hole passing
through them, which would also make recarving pointless. As I said,
our ivory export numbers are small, so the UK is not supplying
large numbers of these to buyers in the Far East. Likewise, objects
that incorporate small amounts of ivory mixed with other materials,
such as small pieces of inlay in wooden Vizagapatam boxes
from India, will never be reused, and these
objects are not sought by buyers in the Far East...
...On Amendment 8, the question of religious items fashioned from ivory was raised on Second Reading, and rightly so. Many antique ivory items have religious relevance, the most obvious being ivory crucifixes. The inspiration of faith has drawn many artists to generate some of Europe’s most significant works of art. Great religious paintings come to mind, but within the field of sculpture, there are many thousands of representations of biblical scenes carved from ivory. The very early ones—15th century pieces—would undoubtedly fall under the “outstandingly high” heading, but there are many works from later centuries that have been finely executed. And we should not forget other religions. Hindu gods are frequently represented in ivory—a material that was readily available in India from its own indigenous Asian elephant. In Judaism, the handles on the end of the antique wood poles that help unroll the Torah scroll sometimes incorporated ivory. All of these items are devotional in nature, and, with this amendment, the Bill would recognise an entire field of human creativity inspired by religion... ...It is not entirely clear just how many items the Government envisage would fall into that exemption, but we have been given the impression that very few would do so. It may be helpful to give just a few examples of the types of objects of historical interest that contain 10% or more ivory and which would appear unlikely to meet the Government’s proposed test. Red and white Victorian chess pieces, for example, are often contained in the drawer of a Victorian chess table—my noble friend referred to those earlier. These are of the classical type drawn by Tenniel in his illustrations to Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. Reference has also been made today to Sheffield sterling silver English cutlery with carved handles. The list also includes Victorian needle cases and pin boxes; Georgian theatre tokens which gained the possessor admission to a particular seat or box for the season; 18th-century fans with ivory sticks and painted paper leaves; and Anglo-Indian sewing boxes and tea caddies, particularly those made in the 18th and 19th centuries in Vizagapatam on India’s eastern coast—the East India Company often arranged their supply to the UK. The list is pretty endless and a source of enormous concern to many people who value our heritage... ...We need to understand, too, that the objects at threat from an overly restrictive Clause 2 include the cultural inheritance not just of Europe but of Asia—including the great civilisations of India, Japan and China—and of Africa. Though many ordinary tourist souvenirs may have come from Africa, there are plenty of examples of the continent’s own great art, including its indigenous population’s commentary on the colonial era. That is exemplified by West African Loango carved tusks, such as those from the 19th century, depicting vignettes of life at the time they were carved. These show images of enslaved Africans, as well as missionaries and colonial officers. They serve as a reminder of past injustices and it would be perverse if they were to be lost to future generations... Lord Cormack (Con):...Reference has been made in our debates to some of the wonderful inlaid boxes from India. Many of them came from Goa, the Portuguese enclave. They are inlaid with ivory, and some are incredibly intricate and beautiful. But how do you really determine whether the volume of ivory is 10% or not? My noble friend Lord De Mauley has tabled a more sensible amendment than mine, given that he wants to make the figure 50%. I feel slightly ashamed of my own modesty in putting down only 20%, and applaud his adventurism in putting down 50%. However, we are dealing with a Government who seem hardly sympathetic to aesthetic considerations, who seem to be in the process of branding themselves as desecrators and champions of vandalism... Lord De Mauley:...There are plenty of objects with, say, 20% or 30% ivory content, and thus where ivory is still not the predominant material, such as inlaid or veneered Indian boxes and antique silver coffee pots, to which precisely the same characteristics apply; they are not valued on the basis of their ivory content. The ivory is incidental and integral to the item and thus not vulnerable to recarving. The Minister in the other place also said: “It was refreshing and encouraging to hear in evidence that the 20% threshold will work for the vast majority of musical instruments, and that the enforcement agencies feel comfortable that that is a way to take the process forward”.—[Official Report, Commons, Ivory Bill Committee, 14/6/18; col. 109.]
It is therefore a mystery why the Government have opted for a 10%
threshold for one group of items and 20% for another. It is
inconsistent and it is illogical...
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