Carvings from mammoth tusks come to Beijing

More than 10 pieces of artist Dong Bihong's ivory carvings of mammoths are on display in Beijing.[Photo by Deng Zhangyu/China Daily]

Artist Dong Bihong brought more than 10 ivory carvings and some 20 Chinese ink paintings to Beijing on April 12.

Some of the featured ivory works are carved from the tusks of mammoths that lived tens of thousands of years ago. The ivory was discovered beneath the ice in the permafrost regions of Siberia.

Dong's ivory carvings are small, each no more than 10 cm high, and depict either animals or ancient Chinese poets and scholars.

Dong's paintings feature birds and flowers in a sketching style known as xieyi in Chinese.

Dong learnt Chinese painting from Li Kuchan, a master of Chinese paintings of birds and flowers. In the 1970s, Dong moved to Hong Kong and devoted himself to ivory carving.

Dong's show will run through April 18 at Jianwai Soho in Beijing.