Aug 2, 2025
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Chinese lacquerware, slathered in mineral pigment In a recent post highlighting the mercury ore Cinnabar (see https://bit.ly/2Rfa08C) we mentioned that it had been used since time immemorial as a carving material and a pigment, especially in the Middle Kingdom. We also pointed out that most such pieces were not carved from lumps of pure Cinnabar but wood, that was then covered with a paint made of red mercury sulphide. Here we have a lovely pair of vases dating from the late Qing dynasty, the last one to rule China from 1644 until shortly after the 1911 revolution. They now grace the Adilnor Collection in Sweden. Sadly no scale is available. Loz Image credit: Danieliness
This wonderful Chinese piece displays three of jadeite's finest shades. The white and green of 'moss in snow' is topped by an amazing and artfully used sprinkle of lilac, that draws our attention to the important personage coming down the path at the top of the piece. Loz Image credit: Artifiber/Wikimedia Commons
The Cup of the Ptolemies.
This agate cup was carved in Alexandria in Egypt around the first centuries BCE to CE. Its journey from there to France is lost in obscurity, though it was held in the treasury of the abbey of St Denis in Paris until the dispersion of monastic treasures during the revolution. It originally had gem studded gold mountings dating from the era of Charles the bald (died 877CE), but they vanished when it was stolen and recovered in 1804. It is not kept at the Cabinet des Medailles in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.
It is a famous masterpiece of Hellenistic stone carving, with pictures depicting preparations for a pagan Dionysiac revel. It was used in French coronation rituals, along with several other items from the abbey treasury.
Loz
Height 8.4, width 18.4cm.
Image credit: Clio20/Wikimedia Commons
Ra Atum
This wonderful citrine and bronze sculpture was carved in 1997 by renowned Oregon artist Lawrence Stoller, a pioneer of large gem sculpture. His work is sought out by private collectors (including the owner of this piece) and has been exhibited at many galleries and museums around the world.
The late 20th century saw a rising trend for bold departures from the conventional faceted gemstone, with a huge and ever expanding diversity of new fantasy cuts, influenced by abstract sculpture, but using a transparent refractive medium. Modern cuts play with light within the gem with a style and artistry that the round brilliant, for all its technical excellence, cannot match. Each piece is visually unique. The gem carving art also broke free of the convention for animals and boxes established in the Belle Epoque by artists such as Faberge, jeweller to the Russian tsars.
Rather than following conventional forms and angles out of a faceting book, the craftsperson develops an interaction between light and the individual chunk of rough gem, letting the form emerge to create a unique glowing beauty. Sometimes the rough is studied for months before the tools come out to slowly reveal the gleaming shape hidden within. Conventional sculptors say the same of each block of marble that passes under their chisel.
The new wave started in the US in the early 1940's with Francis Sperisen, who also first combined optical freeform gems with the metalwork of De Patta. Its popularity really took off however in the 90's with German artist Berndt Munsteiner, scion of a gem carving family from Idar Oberstein. This town has been a centre of stone carving for many centuries, and the new style built on old skills. Since then many new gem artists have appeared all over the world, each seeking new ways to play with rock and light. Innovative jewellery designers have run with this, and now design pieces around the gem, rather than the opposite. I have enjoyed following this fascinating journey, as I find normal faceted gems just don't appeal.
Loz
Image courtesy of Lawrence Stoller, Crystalworks. 78x20x23 Cm. Another TES post of a Stoller scuplture: http://tinyurl.com/kj3cpm3 A Tes post on the Dom Pedro aquamarine, the world's largest cut specimen by Berndt Munsteiner: http://tinyurl.com/kou9bll Lawrence Stoller's visually stunning website: http://www.crystalworks.com/ An article on modern gem artists: http://www.modernsilver.com/secretsofthegemtrade.htm