Bone black is blue-black in color and fairly smooth in texture and also denser than lamp black. It contains about 10% carbon, 84% calcium phosphate and 6 % calcium carbonate. It is made from charring of bones or waste ivory. It was used from prehistory and it is in use until today. Ivory Black is therefore the least pure form of carbon black, containing a high percentage of calcium phosphate.
Bone black and ivory black are artists' pigments which are in use since historic times by painters such as Rembrandt and Velázquez but also more recently by Manet or Picasso. The black dresses and high hats of the gentlemen in Manet's Music in the Tuileries are painted in ivory black.[11][12]
Ivory black was formerly made by grinding charred ivory in oil. Today ivory black is considered a synonym for bone black. Actual ivory is no longer used because of the expense and because animals who are natural sources of ivory are subject to international control as endangered species.