164 Church — Chinese Figure Stones, 



V, — Notes on Chinese Figure Stones. 



By Prop. A. H. Church, M.A., F.C.S., 

 Of the Eoyal Agricultural College, Cirencester. 



THEEE minerals, Nephrite, Agalmatolite, and Steatite, are mucb. 

 used by the Chinese for small articles of ornamental sculpture. 

 The examination of several oriental specimens of these substances in 

 my collection has led to some interesting results, which I have 

 embodied in the following brief notes : — 



1. Nejyh'ite, or jade, is now generally considered a variety of 

 tremolite, its low density, among its physical characters, being suffi- 

 cient to distinguish it from augite. Nephrite varies in colour from a 

 dull greyish- white to a dark leek-green ; rarely it is of a much more 

 brilliant green tint. On one or two specimens I have observed 

 small brownish and yellowish patches, and quite lately I met with a 

 large specimen of the mineral of a good and well-defined honey- 

 yellow colour throughout. The hardness was nearly 6, the fracture 

 was splintery, and the lustre glimmering. A careful determination 

 of density gave the figure 2.64. The mineral was further identified 

 by an analytical examination. I believe yellow jade to be, however, 

 rare. 



2. Agalmatolite, there is little doubt, is a good species ; yet I have 

 seen in a public collection of minerals several oriental figures of 

 steatite labelled " agalmatolite." This error is alluded to in miner- 

 alogical works, and is of frequent occurrence. A determination of 

 the density of a Chinese agalmatolite seal gave the figure 2.805, a 

 result closely agreeing with other observations. The red mottlings 

 on some of the larger masses of agalmatolite contain a large quantity 

 of ferric oxide, and are of greater density than the paler portions. 

 In the black mottlings I looked in vain for manganese. The powder 

 of the black parts is grey, and if it be thrown into a fused mixture of 

 caustic soda and chlorate of potassium no green manganate is formed, 

 but a series of slight deflagrations occurs, indicative of the car- 

 bonaceous character of the black colouring matter. 



3. Steatite is clearly distinguished from agalmatolite by its inferior 

 .hardness, scarcely more than 1, while agalmatolite is nearly 3. The 



density of steatite is variously given. For a specimen containing 

 interstitial air, and preserved from the action of water during im- 

 mersion in that liquid by a film of collodion, I found a density equal 

 to 2.28 ; the same specimen freed from interstitial air gave the num- 

 ber 2.58. I have observed that the surfaces of Chinese steatitic 

 carvings have generally been subjected to an artificial treatment, 

 which materially alters their physical characters. A considerable 

 degree of translucency and an increased hardness have been obtained 

 by a saturation of the surface with wax, probably of vegetable 

 origin. In my experiments I have taken care to remove this altered 

 surface-layer. 



