552 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



artist's needs. A few of these occur widely and plentifully, hence are 

 inexpensive, while others are rare and are sought for in distant places, 

 hence are costly and precious. 



MINERALS IN SCULPTURE 



Several of the massive minerals have long been used to produce 

 sculpture, including statuary and elements for the ornamentation of 

 buildings, tombs, and monmnents. The first among these is marble, 

 which is the crystalline metamorphosed form of limestone, or calcium 

 carbonate. Marble is more extensively used today by sculptors than 

 is any other form of stone. It is softer than granite and similar 

 igneous rocks. Because it is denser and not so porous, it is more 

 durable than limestone and other sedimentary formations [1].^ The 

 important role played by marble in the plastic arts of Greece and 

 Kome is well known. "Wliite marble from the quarries of Mount 

 Pentelicus served the great artist Phidias for the ornamentation of 

 the Parthenon ; the Greek island of Paros produced a coarser grained 

 but pure-white marble of incomparable beauty, which was modeled 

 by many of the famous Greek sculptors. The white marble of the 

 quarries at Carrara in Italy was the favorite sculpture medium of 

 Michelangelo, who carved it into figures of beauty and dignity such 

 as the Madonna and Child in the Church of Notre Dame in Bruges 

 (pi. 1, fig. 1). Variegated marbles have been widely used for table- 

 tops and fireplaces and interior paneling. Polished black marble, 

 especially "Belgian black," is highly regarded by modern sculptors. 



Alabaster is a mineral name with a double meaning. It is probably 

 derived from the Greek word alahastron (L. alahastrum) ^ which is 

 the name for the small stone flasks or vases used by the Egyptians for 

 oils, ointments, and perfumes, having a flattened top with narrow 

 orifice and a body usually rounded at the bottom, and without handle. 

 Many are artistically conceived. Those alabastrums made in Egypt 

 are usually cut from a hard compact form of calcite, somewhat trans- 

 lucent and sometimes quite beautifully banded, which is nearly iden- 

 tical with onyx (onyxlike) marble. The Egyptians also used calcite 

 alabaster for makmg those strange "canopic jars" in which they pre- 

 served the viscera of the deceased, usually for burial with the mummy. 

 They bear on their covers carved heads, representative of the four 

 genii of the dead called Amenti. Among objects in the exhibition 

 of "Tutankhamun Treasures" recently circulated among American 

 museums are several that are made from creamy alabaster. An 

 especially fine piece is an alabaster lid from one of the compartments 

 of the "canopic" chest which is in the form of the king's head [2]. 

 To Egyptologists the term "alabaster" always refers to calcite. 



^Numbers In brackets indicate references at end of text. 



