Chryselephantine

Chryselephantine sculpture (from Greek χρυσός, chrysós, gold, and ελεφάντινος, elephántinos, ivory) is sculpture made with gold and ivory. Chryselephantine cult statues enjoyed high status in Ancient Greece.

Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory attached, representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leaf representing the garments, armour, hair, and other details. In some cases, glass paste, glass, and precious and semi-precious stones were used for detail such as eyes, jewellery, and weaponry.

The origins of the technique are not known. There are known examples, from the 2nd millennium BC, of composite sculptures made of ivory and gold from areas that became part of the Greek world, most famously the so-called "Palaikastro Kouros" (not to be confused with the Archaic statues known by that term) from Minoan Palaikastro, circa 1500 BC. It is, however, not clear whether the Greek chryselephantine tradition is connected with them. Chryselephantine sculpture became widespread during the Archaic period. Later, Acrolithitic statues, with marble heads and extremities, and a wooden trunk either gilded or covered in drapery, were a comparable technique used for cult images.

The technique was normally used for cult statues within temples; typically, they were greater than life-sized. Construction was modular so that some of the gold could be removed and melted for coin or bullion in times of severe financial hardship, to be replaced later when finances had recovered. For example, the figure of Nike held in the right hand of Pheidias' Athena Parthenos was made from solid gold with this very purpose in mind. Indeed, in times of prosperity up to six solid gold Nikae were cast, serving as a "sacred treasury" whose safety was ensured additionally by the sanctity accorded to a cult object as well as the presence of priestesses, priests, and maintenance staff at the temple.

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