434 



THE Cn IL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[November, 



ANCIENT STATUES. 



On the difftrent JMaleriah employed by the ^indents for Slaliies, avd on 

 Hie J'aruhes of Iheir Marbles. Translated from the French of Itie 

 Count de Clatrac, Knight of various Orders, Kttper of tlie First Di- 

 vision of the Royal Museum of Antiquities in the Louvre 



MARBLES OR STONES MENTIONED IN ANCIENT AUTHORS. 



(Continued from page 369.^ 



The ancients included under the name of Marmor, marble, derived 

 from the Greek marmaron, signifying splendour and brilliance, all 

 stones, more or less hard, susceptible of a fine polish, and fit for sculp- 

 ture or architectural decoration, such as marble, alabaster, porphyry, 

 granite and other stones, which are however of very different natures. 

 As it is not within our province to enumerate all the mineralogical 

 characters, we shall be contented with pointing out to amateurs how 

 they may by mere inspection distinguish the kinds of these stones. 



P01.PHYKY, the name of which shows that the stones to which this 

 name was first given were of a purple or deep red amaranth tinge, is 

 very hard and cannot be scratched with iron; it is cold to the touch 

 like marble, which again is more so than stone or plaster. It is not 

 affected by nitric acid, gives fire to steel, and is interspersed with 

 clear angular specks, in a paste or cement, generally of a uniform 

 deep colour, and which, serving as a ground to them, determines that 

 of the porphyry. 



Gkamtii, almost as hard as porphyry, and resisting acids, is com- 

 posed of larger or smaller grains, of irregular forms often rounded, 

 of different natures, and frequently agg omerated one with another 

 without any intermediate, and of which a portion presents a crystalline 

 laminated appearance, different from the specks in porphyry. 



Makble which effervesces with acids, is scratcheil by iron, and 

 rare y gives out s;iarks to steel; its texture, not so close as that of 

 porphyry or granite, is unmixed with stone of other kinds. It is only 

 translucent in very thin leaves, and is often distinguished by the variety 

 of its shades, and by their irregularity. Its fracture is brilliant, and 

 often in white marble it is sacc/uirme, or like loaf sugar. 



Alabaster has often a great resemblance to marble, for which it 

 may be mistaken; however true oriental or calcareous alabaster, from 

 whatever country it may come, is harder than white marble ; the 

 scratch is translucent even in great masses, its fracture is crystalline. 

 Whether white or coloured, it shows undulations, festoons and clouds 

 more connected and regular than those of marble. — Gypseous ala- 

 baster, like that of Volterra, is very soft and may be scratched with 

 the nail; is of a milk white colour, transparent, and does not effer- 

 vesce with nitric acids. 



Breccia is composed of smaller or larger angular fragments of 

 marl)Ies or hard stones, united together by a cement forming veins. 

 Brocateli.e are breccias, the spots of whch resemble the stutls called 

 brocades, they cften contain shells. — Pudding stones differ from 

 breccias, by being composed of rounded fragments, either of marble 

 or hard stones. They are often silicious pebbles of different kinds 

 united by a cement of the same kind. — The Lumacelle are formed of 

 masses of shells. — Shelly Marbles, such as the brocatelle, only show 

 them scattered about. — Madrepore Marbles contain the remains of 

 madrepores — .Onion Marbles are of a dirty white with veins and 

 waves of greenish chalk. These bands depend much on the way in 

 which the marbles are sawed or split ; they are said to be sawed 

 in grain, when they are sawed the way of the bands or layers, and in 

 counter gram, when sawed perpendicularly or obliquely to these un- 

 dulations. In marbles with rays or large flakes, the grain is so diffe- 

 rent from the counter-grain, that they seem quite a different species. 



The want of precision with which ancient authors describe marbles 

 and stones, prevents me from distinguishing them often in works of 

 art. For easier reference we shall arrange them according to the 

 colours supposed to belong to them, but we must confess that this 

 method is liable to many mistakes. 



white marbles. 



' — Ivory White, doubtless very compact. — Bosphorus, greyish white. 

 — Megak A CoNCHiTE, from near the Amp hialian promontory, white, soft, 

 and mixed with shells. Statues it seems were made of it.- — Coralitic, 

 fouud perhaps in Phrygia, near the river Coralius, dead ivory white ; 

 the pieces of it worked did not exceed two cubits (about three feetj, 

 it seems that it was called also Hangarius lapis, Sangarian stone, from 

 a river in Phrygia. — Ephesian, very white, used by Pyxodorus, 012 

 years before Christ. — Mount Hymettus, near Athens, a greyish 

 white ; it was celebrated in the time of Xenophon ; the orator Lucius 

 Crassus was the first Roman, who, in the year of Rome 6Ii'2 (92 years 

 before Christ), decorated his house on the Palatine Mount with six 



columns of this marble, twelve feet high, which caused it to be named 

 the Palatine Venus, by M. Brutus. — Lesbian, of a yellowish white ; 

 there was also black. Pliny B. 30, ch. 5, believes that from the 

 quarries of Lesbos were extracted the first variegated marbles ; he 

 says that Menander, who treated with great care on every thing re- 

 lating to the different marbles, is the first author who speaks of 

 variegated marbles, and that he says little about them. — LuNi, of a 

 white approaching blue, and of a very fine grain ; the quarries near 

 Carrara were discovered about the time of Julius Caesar, and com- 

 peted with those of Paros and Mount Penteles.* — Mylassa, in Caria, 

 a very fine white. — Onyx, or Onychite, found in Cappadocia, in the 

 time of Mark Antony, appears to have been a species of oriental ala- 

 baster, nearly resembling phengite. — Parian, from the Cyclades, a 

 white marble, most celebrated among the ancients. Herodotus men- 

 tions it, and appears to be the Lygdinos of Anacreon; it was called 

 lychnile, because the quarries were worked by lamp light ; it is per- 

 haps also the stone of Marpessus, celebrated by Virgil. — Pentelican, 

 extracted from Mount Penteles, near Athens (used by Byzes 600 years 

 before Christ), white, much esteemed ; however it is formed of layers 

 and striae, sometimes earthy, and injured by exposure to the air. Pliny 

 does not mention it. It seems that the marble of Mount Phelleus, in 

 Attica, was of the same kind. — Phengite, found in Cappadocia in the 

 time of Nero. It seems to have been a white alabaster, veined with 

 yellow, and almost as transparent as specular stone. From a passage 

 in Suetonius in the life of Nero, we are led to believe that phengite 

 was placed on the walls and used as a kind of looking glass. Temples 

 were made of this stone, into which light entered through the walls. — 

 PoROS, so named from its lightness and porosity, it resembled Parian 

 marble. The temple of Delphi and that of Jui)iter at Olympius were 

 of this marble. Paros and Poros are the only Greek marbles men- 

 tioned by Herodotus. — Synnadic, from Synnas or Docimium, in Phry- 

 gia ; it was named also Phrygian or Mygdonian marble ; the white 

 resembled alabaster or alabastrite ; it was much esteemed. There 

 was also white and purple ; perhaps it was purple breccia. — Thasian, 

 white, of a yellow tinge, like that of Lesbos ; it was used in sculpture. 

 — Tyrian, or Libanian, very white. 



yellow marbles. 



Alabastrite, a city in Egypt between Antinopolis and Cynopolis, 

 took its name from the great quantity of this marble found there. It 

 was yellowish white, veined, and of a honey colour. It was at first, 

 says Pliny, named Onyx ; it was our calcareous oriental alabaster. It 

 was used for statues, columns and vases for perfumes,t named alabas- 

 tra, from their being without handles flabe), and whence the name was 

 given to the stone. Vases of this fine material are often found in 

 tombs, but there are also very small vases of true onyx or sardony. — 

 Corinthian, yellow. — Jerusalem. Near this city, in the time of 

 Justinian, was found a marble said to be of a flame colour, no doubt 

 bright yellow red, a kind of rosso antico, or antique red. — Mace- 

 donian. It seems to be our gialloantico or antique yellow. — -Melos or 

 Acythos, yellow. — Numidian, of a bright red and yellow. It seems 

 that in the time of Seneca and Pliny, it was endeavoured to imitate 

 this nuirble by incrustations, or by painting other marbles. — Schistos, 

 yellow Spanish marble, and which probably like schist, separated into 

 leaves. 



black marbles. 



Alabanda or Miletos, in Caria, black of a purple hue. — of LucUL- 

 Lus, a very fine black, brought to Rome by L. Lucullus Scaurus de- 

 corated the atrium of his house with 3.>3 columns of this marble, 38 

 feet high. — Lydian. Touchstone was called Lydian marble or stone ; 

 it was also called Basanile, from a Greek vs^ord signifying to touch ; 

 this stone is not a marble but a basalt.^ 



red marbles. 



Rosso antico or antique red, is not easily recognised among the 

 descriptions of marbles given by ancient authors, it was perhaps that 

 of Lydia. — A Lybian marble was red and white.jj 



green marbles. 



Augustus, wavy and spotted green, perhaps the sea or Egyptian 

 green. — Cauystus, extracted from Mount Ocha, near the city of Euboea. 

 It was green or mixed with that colour, and probably green cipoUno. 



* V. also under the head of antique marbles. — [Note of Translator.] 



t Some are to be seen in the Egyptian department of the British Museum. 

 — [Note of Translator.] 



J Lesbian marlile, accoriling to Pliny, was also black, Tenarian marble 

 was a greenish black. — [Note of Translator.] 



§ Red mai-ble was found at Jerusalem. — [Note of Translator.] 



