Author: Watson, William
Title: Chinese Ivories - The Grice Collection
Description: Sheffield. The Graves Art Gallery. 1958. First edition. Quarto. Softcover. Fine: Inscription to inner side of the cover. 72 Pages, illustrated in black and white. An interesting catalogue of 154 ivory items. The collection was amassed by Dr John William Hawksley Grice, a medical doctor working in Tianjin, a city in northwest China. Grice had become interested in collecting carved ivory, bamboo carvings and jade, objects which were popular in China but not well known in the West. When Grice decided to sell his ivory collection a family friend from Sheffield suggested asking local businessman and philanthropist, J G Graves. Graves bought the collection in 1937. He officially presented it to the City on 2 March 1939 and it went on display at the Graves Gallery. Graves envisioned the collection as a source of inspiration for workers in Sheffield?s cutlery industry, who used ivory as part of the decoration of metalwork, such as cutlery handles. The collection remained on show until the 1990s, when the gallery was refurbished.

Keywords: Chinese Ivories - The Grice Collection