Alabaster Cup and Chinese Stamps
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A carved alabaster cup and three Chinese stamps. The mottled brown and orange alabaster or breccia cup, possibly Egyptian, the body tapering slightly to a flat base, and three modern Chinese carved, and polished hardstone seals topped with creatures. Height 7 cm, (cup)
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- Alabaster - Alabaster is soft natural stone used for statuary, with a similar appearance to marble, but easier to work with. As it is softer than marble, an item made from alabaster can be scratched with a metal object, and an alabaster item does not polish to a high surface gloss like marble.
Alabaster objects can be semi-translucent. Alabaster occurs in a pure white form and also with veining from dirt. Colours vary from white through yellow and pink to brown. The veining is usually green or black but can be multicoloured.
Being semi-translucent, alabaster is often used for the bowls of figural lamps, with the figure itself being either alabaster or marble. - Hardstone - Hardstone is not a scientific name for a particular gemstone, but a word used to describe any one or more semi-precious stones used in jewellery and decorative arts, and can include jade, agate, onyx, rock crystal, amber, jet and carnelian. Softer stones and minerals such as soapstone, and alabaster and hard stones used in building such as marble or granite are generally excluded.
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