chryselephantine

American  

[kris-el-uh-fan-tin, -tahyn] / ˌkrɪs ɛl əˈfæn tɪn, -taɪn /

adjective

1. made of or overlaid with gold and ivory, as certain objects made in ancient Greece.

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chryselephantine British  

/ ˌkrɪsɛlɪˈfæntɪn /

adjective

1. (of ancient Greek statues) made of or overlaid with gold and ivory

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Etymology

Origin of chryselephantine

1820–30; < Greek chrȳselephántinos, equivalent to chrȳs- chrys- + elephántinos ( elephant-, stem of eléphās elephant, ivory + -inos -ine ¹

Example Sentences

Actress West plays her heroine with an eloquent and minatory calm, which contrasts well with the chryselephantine magnificence of her appearance.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is ironic that the best evidence we have of what Phidias' lost chryselephantine statue of Athena in the Parthenon looked like should be preserved on a Scythian woman's pendant from the 4th century B.C.

From Time Magazine Archive

There were statues in metal and marble, bas-reliefs in various kinds of stone and marble, as well as some chryselephantine statues.

From A History of Art for Beginners and Students Painting, Sculpture, Architecture by Waters, Clara Erskine Clement

In the chryselephantine, or ivory statues of Jove and Minerva, by Phidias, art was made a handmaid to religion.

From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by Haines, T. L. (Thomas Louis)

Next it reached the hammered bronze image, passed through the archaic marbles, and culminated in the finer marbles and the chryselephantine statues of Zeus and Athena.

From Myth, Ritual and Religion — Volume 1 by Lang, Andrew