452 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[December, 



ANCIENT STATUES.— No. 3. 



Dictionary of Terms. 



Translated and rearranged from the French of the Count de Clairac, 

 Knight of various Orders, Keeper of the First Division of the Royal 

 Museum of Antiquities in the Louvre. 



• ( Concluded from page i^i.) 



Those stones are called antique of which the quarries are exhausted, 

 and which are how only to be fo\nid in ancient monuments. Among 

 this great number of marbles and of other stones, there are very few 

 wdiich can be determined with certainty from the descriptions given 

 by ancient authors. Most of these stones being only to be obtained 

 from the monuments of Italy, we are often obliged to leave them their 

 Italian names, the number of which, however, the dealers in antique 

 stones have very much increased, by selling as stones of different 

 kinds, specimens which are often only varieties presented by the same 

 block of marble: The Italian edifices which are richest in marbles 

 and other antique stones are, the churches and palaces of Rome, the 

 cathedral of Pisa, St. Mark and some other churches at Venice, the 

 cathedral of Ravenna, that at Florence, as well as the churches of 

 Santa Croce and St. Lawrence in the same city. The palace of Ca- 

 serta, the Royal Museum of Naples, and La Favorita, are decorated 

 with a great variety of ancient marbles obtained from the excavations 

 at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri. The Royal Museum of the 

 Louvre contains a great number of columns of the rarest and most 

 beautiful ancient marbles, and which are not surpassed by any other 

 collection.* Louis XI\^. obtained from Barca, in Cyrenaica, a great 

 quantity of beautiful antique marbles, which he used at Versaides 

 and Trianon. 



[We have inserted, among the following, the modern marbles men- 

 tioned by M. de Clairac; those are marked as modern, all the others 

 are antique, Al. Alabaster. Bas. Basalt. Br. Breccia. Gr. Granite. 

 M. Marble.'] 



African Breccia. Black ground with spots of deep violet, or 

 bright red and white veined with black. Very beautiful and very 

 rare. 



African Marble. Purple, white and black. — Flowery. White, 

 and purple and yellow. 



Alabaster, Oriental. (JIabastro, Ital., Jllbdtre, Fr.) Brotvn 

 T^ei»ed,\vd\y, half transparent ; called in Italy, pittra perruchina, and 

 alabastro tarturacato. — Milk White, not transjjarent. — Transparent 

 White. Striped with milky and wavy bands. — Torloiseshell, tartura- 

 cota, or brown veined. Weight of a foot cube, ISl fts. 



Alabaster, Cotognino. Yellow. 



Alabaster, Floweiiy. White and reddish brown, ribbony or fes- 

 toony. 



Aleppo Breccia. Yellowish green ground, with spots of violet, 

 green, white, yellow mixed with red, veined with pale white. Very rare. 



Alet Breccia, sometimes called Aleppo. Modern. Yellow brown, 

 red with gray spots. Found near Aix, in Provence. 



Antique, Grand. Breccia, black and white very pure, with great 

 spots broken up by zigzag lines. Extremely rare. — -Little. With 

 smaller spots, and the black a])proaching to gray. The quarries of 

 these two breccias, which were supposed to be lost, have oeen found 

 by M. Layerle Capel, at Aubert, in the department of the Arriege, 

 France. 



Arlecchino, Br. Resembles .Seme Santo, but is of deeper colour. 



AzuRRO. Italian, the same as Turchmo, a sky blue. 



Barbazan Breccia. Modern. Formed of black, brown, and 

 white fragments. Very good ; much used at Toulouse. There are 

 some fine columns of it in the Louvre. Found near Barbazan, Upper 

 Garonne. 



Basalt. Black, with large white crystals in the shape of porae- 

 g anates. It resembles a lava from Mount Albano. Black, with red 

 granitic bauds. — B/ack grey, mixed with small pomegranate crystals 

 and little black spots. — Blackish Grey, with small white veins and 

 scales. — Deep Black, with small shining black spots. — Ftoicery Black, 

 marbled with white, and irregularly wavv- Green of very close grain. 

 Another green with small white crystals, very rare. Occidental and 

 Oriental of a dark gray with small white points. The Occidental is 

 softer than the other. Weight of a foot cube, 21U lbs. 



Beaudean Breccia. Modern. A magnificent breccia quarried at 

 Beaudean, in the Upper Garonne in France, in close yellow, brown and 



* Enumeration of some of the articles : — Statues in porphyry, universal 

 breccia andcoloiireii marble, G; columns 103, viz., porphyry 17, rose granite 

 24, grey granite 12, imiversal breccia 4, verd aiiticpie 10, Egyptian green 10, 

 marbles, breccias, and oriental alabaster 26. — Note of Trandator. 



red fragments. According to M. de Clairac, this is the same as tlie 

 Caroline Breccia. 



Beirede Marble is a fine marble, with large flakes of dark red, 

 clear red and yellow, sometimes resembling fine Sicily. It comes from 

 the Pyrenees, and was worked by Louis XIV. 



BiGio, Italian for Gray, vide Gray. 



Black (nero, Ital.) Antique (Ntro Antico). M. A most beautiful blacK, 

 without any admixture, probably the marble of LuculUis. It appears 

 that it is still found at Bergama, Carrara, Prato in Tuscany, and near 

 .Spa. The Italians call it improperly paragone. Weight of a foot 

 cube, 182 Itis. — Antique Serpentlne Black {Serpentmo nero anticoi. 

 f-lde Porphyry and Serpentine. — Modern Black. Very fine is 

 obtained from Bergama, Spa, and the Pyrenees at Mount Majou, in 

 the Upper Garonne. 



Blue (Turchino, Ital.). — Antique {Turchino Antico). Mar. Slatey 

 grey, with fine and shiny grains. Another with white stripes and 

 waved with slatey blue. Piccolo Turchino Antico has very fine grains, 

 and narrower stripes. Weight of a foot cube, ISS fts. — Modern. 

 Bright bluish grey, with bands of white or dark grey. Found at Genoa. 



Breccia. African, Alet, Barbazan, Beaudtan, see under their 

 respective titles. Antique, Yelloie, or Gilt, red ground, clear and deep 

 yellow spots, veined with red and white. Grand Antique, Partridge 

 Eye, Peacock's Eye, Penne S. Martin, Persecchino, Potzererra, Porta 

 Santa, Porp/hyry, Red, Rose, Seme Santo, Tracagnina, Verde Antiqnt, 

 see under their respective titles. — Memphis. Modern. A violet red, 

 in little grey or white fragments. Quarried in Provence. — Pall Lu- 

 mactlte, a beautiful pure black, irregularly strewed with white shells 

 an inch and more in length, very rare. — Verde de Paglioco, or straw 

 green, with greenish and yellow spots. Verde Sanguino Antico. 

 Greenish grey, wdiite, red and black spots. — Violet. Tliere are several 

 kinds, 1st, a dark violet ground, with large lilac and white spots. Of 

 this superb kind is a beautiful table in the gallery of the Louvre. 

 2nd, the same colours with small spots. 3rd, with rose spots. Veiy 

 rare. The persecchino may perhaps be taken as another variety. 

 plde also Silicious Breccia. 



Brocatelle. a shelly marble ; some are breccias, having the 

 appearance of brocade. — Gilt. Yellow spots, veined with red, and 

 mixed with white shells. There is a kind of antique yellow, with red 

 veins interspersed with white, which is like the brocatelle. — Spanish. 

 Modern. Beautiful yellow spots, well marked, bordered with red and 

 violet, veined with white, and containing a few shells. Weight of a 

 foot cube, 189 lbs. 



Campan Marble. Modern. Found in the valley of Campan, in 

 the Pyrenees. Very beautiful, but not so fine now as when wrought 

 by Louis XIV., some of the blocks of which time are still in the 

 royal stores. — Isabella. A rose ground with some red stripes, 

 covered with netty green veins, much crossed, and some white. — Red. 



A bright red ground, veined with green and white. Green Clear 



ground, veined with network of a dark green, some white veins cutting 

 the others. Campan marble proper unites all these three varieties 

 by very large stripes. These marbles are easily atfected by exposure 

 to the air. Weight of a foot cube, 190 lbs. 



Carnation. M. A kind of antique yellow approaching a rose 

 colour. 



Caroline. A modern breccia, exhibited at the Louvre in 1827, 

 supposed by M. de Clairac to be Beaudean breccia, which see. 



Carrara Marble. These quarries were wrought about the time 

 of Julius Cffisar, and in them have been found remains of unfinished 

 bas reliefs. The white statwary marble is of a white inclining to blue, 

 of fine and close grain, resembling loaf sugar; but crystals are often 

 found in it which prevent the use of the chisel. The stripes and spots 

 are greyish or greenish; when so striped it is named Cipolinaccio, 

 that which is of coarser and harder grain, like salt, is called Saligno. 

 Carrara does not take so fine a polish as Parian. It is of this marble 

 that most statues are now made, although there are, in Italy and 

 France, white marbles which approach it in beauty, and might be used 

 in sculpture. Besides white marble, tliere are others at Carrara of 

 different colours, and which form tlie upper part of the quarries. 

 Those of Polvaccio almost exhausted, and of .Serravezza, are the most 

 celebrated. Weight of a foot cube, 18' l lbs. 



Castracane. a Lumacelle, dark brown, rose, and with small cir- 

 cular shells of a bright yellow colour. Very rare. 



Cervellata. M. Saveloy marble, red ground, white and green, 

 with very fine interlaced wdiite veins. 



Cinnamon Marble. Yellow, something of an antique yellow. 



CiPOLAZZO. Striated with white and violet. 



Cipolinacio. a kind of Carrara marble, wdiite with greyish or 

 greenish spots and bands. 



Ciponxo. Onion marble. Dirty white, striated with large wary 

 bands, of green more or less dark, arising from talc. It is easily 



