a. [ad. Gr. χρῡσελεφάντιν-ος of gold and ivory, f. χρῡσ-ός gold + ἐλεφάντινος of ivory, f. ἐλέφας, ἐλέφαντ- elephant, ivory.] Of gold and ivory: applied to statues overlaid with gold and ivory, such as the Olympian Zeus and Athene Parthenos of Phidias.
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 607. The earliest productions of chryselephantine sculpture, or statuary in gold and ivory.
1852. G. Butler, Princ. Imitat. Art, 82. Like the other great chryselephantine statues, it … was made of wood, overlaid with ivory and gold; the ivory being used for the flesh, the gold for the drapery.
b. fig.
1878. Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Ser. II. 89. In types of clean chryselephantine verse.
1882. Symonds, in Macm. Mag., XLV. 323. Much of his best work … is chryselephantine, overwrought with jewellery.
