I^HNERALS IN ART AND ARCHEOLOGY — GETTENS 559 



discrimination was exercised in the field of color and quality of the 

 substance rather than in variety of use or method of working. 

 Pendants and strings of beads form the major part of the collection. 



Although steatite, or soapstone (hydrous magnesium silicate) (pi. 

 5, fig. 2), is not regarded as a great art medium, its softness (No. 1 on 

 Mohs hardness scale) and ease of carving have caused it to be used 

 widely by the Chinese, but, unfortunately, in this century mostly for 

 cheap export ware. A soapstone Hellenistic head of fine quality is 

 exhibited in the Egyptian galleries of the Brooklyn Museum. In the 

 same collection are several other well-modeled Egyptian steatite heads 

 with inlaid eyes. 



A hard variety of serpentine (Mohs scale 4r-5), which is related to 

 steatite, was sometimes employed by the Chinese as a substitute for 

 jade. In fact it is sometimes difficult to distinguish this mineral 

 from jade. Serpentine has waxlike luster and color and can be varie- 

 gated, showing mottling in lighter or darker tones of green. A hand- 

 some mask of serpentine from Mexico is shown in the Robert Woods 

 Bliss collection already mentioned [3]. Some of the finest accom- 

 plishments of Olmec artists are in this stone. 



The native metals are also minerals, and since they were easy to 

 recognize and to work, they were prized by primitive artists and 

 craftsmen. Chief among these, of course, is gold, which was widely 

 employed by primitive peoples for all kinds of art and ornamental 

 purposes. They fashioned objects by hammering gold nuggets 

 directly into wire, beads, and thin sheets. It was melted and cast in 

 simple molds to form images and ceremonial objects. The Robert 

 Woods Bliss collection has many unusual examples of Middle and 

 South American gold masks, figurines, and ornaments showing all 

 techniques (pi. 6, fig. 1). In Colombia, the aboriginal Americans 

 learned to make an alloy of gold and copper called tunibaga^ which 

 they cast into images and other objects by the lost- wax process. 

 Native silver, and even copper, also served the early peoples of Europe 

 and America for making beads, amulets, and hair ornaments. 



Nearly all the precious gem stones, including diamonds, have been 

 sculptured or engraved. Sapphire heads of Presidents Washington, 

 Jefferson, Lincoln, and Eisenhower are owned by the Kazanjian 

 Foundation of Los Angeles. The original stone for the Lincoln head 

 (pi. 7, fig. 1), which was shown several years ago at the Smithsonian 

 Institution, was obtained after a year of negotiations with a rancher 

 in Queensland, Australia, where it had been kept for 15 years. The 

 deep blue stone was sculptured by the artist Norman Maness, coun- 

 seled by Merrill Gage, professor of sculpture at the University of 

 Southern California, and the job required almost 2 years. Because 

 of the hardness of the sapphire stone, only diamonds could be used to 

 cut it. The weight is 1,318 carats, approximately 8i^ ounces. 



