gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A substantial medico-chemical pharmacopoeia by Johann Daniel Mylius, presenting the preparation and use of remedies within the Paracelsian and early chemical-medical tradition. The work describes numerous medicines derived from plants, animals, metals, minerals, and other substances, together with methods of distillation, extraction, purification, and chemical preparation. Of particular gemological interest are preparations involving precious stones, minerals, and metals and their supposed medicinal virtues, illustrating the continued incorporation of gems into seventeenth-century pharmaceutical and alchemical practice.

gems, jade, jade trading, Central Asia, Hetian jade, nephrite, Fischer

Nicolas Trigault’s De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas is the influential Latin account of the Jesuit mission to China, based largely on the journals and papers of Matteo Ricci and first published at Augsburg in 1615. Trigault describes the establishment and progress of the mission, together with extensive observations on Ming China, including its geography, government, social hierarchy, religion, education, customs, cities, commerce, manufactures, and natural products. Of particular interest to historians of gemology and material culture are references to jade, precious stones, pearls, gold, silver, and other valued substances, as well as Chinese luxury goods and their uses and trade. The work played a major role in introducing European readers to contemporary China and remains an important early European source for Chinese material culture and natural resources during the late Ming period. The book recounts the establishment of the Jesuit mission in China in the late 1500s led by Matteo Ricci. When Ricci predicted a solar eclipse in 1592 with greater accuracy than the astronomers of the Chinese court, Emperor Wan-li invited Ricci to Beijing. In Beijing, Ricci translated Euclid and other works into Chinese, and created a map of the world in Chinese. There is a brief mention of jade trading in the kingdom of Cascar (northwest of Yarkand).

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A reduced-format edition of Gerard Mercator’s celebrated atlas, edited and expanded by Jodocus Hondius, designed to make Mercator’s geographical work available in a more compact and accessible form. The volume contains maps and accompanying geographical descriptions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, discussing countries, cities, peoples, natural resources, and commerce. Of particular gemological interest are references to regions associated with gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, and other valuable commodities, reflecting early seventeenth-century European knowledge of the geographical sources and trade of gems and precious materials.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A major natural-history compendium by Carolus Clusius (Charles de l’Écluse), devoted to exotic natural products reaching Europe from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Arranged in ten books, it describes and illustrates unfamiliar plants, animals, shells, stones, and other natural substances, drawing upon specimens, travelers’ reports, correspondence, and earlier publications. Of particular gemological interest are discussions of precious and ornamental stones and other mineral substances, including their names, appearance, geographic origins, reputed properties, and uses. The work is an important early source for the transmission of knowledge about exotic gems and natural materials into European natural history during the Age of Exploration.

gems, jade, amber, ruby, sapphire, spinel, Burma, Myanmar, Möng Mit, Mongmit, early Chinese trade with Burma

Wang Shixing’s Guang Zhi Yi [廣志繹; Expanded Interpretations of the Gazetteers] is a geographical and ethnographic work based substantially on the author’s extensive travels as a Ming official. It records observations on different regions of China, their landscapes, populations, customs, products, commerce, agriculture, and natural resources, rather than relying solely on earlier geographical literature. Of particular interest to gemological and mineralogical history are its notices of regional products and valuable natural materials, including jade and other stones, and the commercial routes by which such materials circulated. Its observations provide useful evidence for the geography of resources and commodity trade in late Ming China. Volume 5 contains accounts of the Burmese invasions into Yunnan in the late 16th century and of Wang's advice for mobilizing troops and provisions to counter the invasion. Mention is also made of amber and gems in Mongmit and of a Ming delegation to the capital of the Toungoo dynasty (old Pegu). Prefaced in 1597. Wang Shixing was a military general whose troops were stationed in Lancang in southwestern Yunnan, near the Burmese border. His record is considered very reliable.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, early gemology, early mineralogy

An important early systematic treatise on minerals and metals by the Italian physician and naturalist Andrea Cesalpino, arranged in three books. Cesalpino discusses the origins, formation, classification, physical properties, and varieties of mineral substances, drawing upon classical authorities while attempting to organize them according to observable characteristics. The work treats metals, ores, earths, stones, and precious stones and is particularly significant in the history of mineralogy for its attempt to develop a coherent classification of mineral substances before the emergence of modern chemical mineralogy.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A specialized Renaissance treatise on bezoar stones, examining their origins, varieties, physical characteristics, medicinal preparation, and reputed powers against poisons and disease. Wittich discusses both genuine and counterfeit bezoars and the means by which they might be distinguished, reflecting their great value and medical reputation in sixteenth-century Europe. The work is particularly relevant to gemological history because bezoars were collected, traded, tested, and mounted as precious objects alongside gemstones and were frequently incorporated into elaborate jewelry, vessels, and princely treasuries.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, early gemology, early mineralogy

A Renaissance edition of the ancient and medieval lapidary traditionally attributed to Evax, the legendary “King of the Arabs,” presented here with material associated with Heinrich Rantzau. The work describes precious stones individually, giving their names, physical appearance, supposed origins, medicinal applications, and magical or talismanic virtues. Drawing on the long Greco-Roman and medieval lapidary tradition, it is important for the history of gem lore because it helped transmit classical beliefs about gemstones into early modern Europe.

gems, jade

An English collection of early accounts of the Americas, translated and compiled by Richard Eden, centered on Pietro Martire d’Anghiera’s Decades of the New World. The work describes Spanish exploration and conquest, the geography and peoples of the Caribbean and American mainland, and the natural products and resources encountered there. Of particular gemological interest are numerous early accounts of gold, pearls, emeralds, and other precious materials, including their Indigenous use, sources, trade, and acquisition by the Spanish, making it an important English-language source for sixteenth-century European knowledge of American gems and precious metals.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A Renaissance Latin edition of Galen’s De simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus, his major treatise on the properties and medicinal uses of simple substances. The eleven books discuss drugs derived from plants, animals, and minerals, describing their qualities, physiological effects, preparation, and therapeutic applications within the Galenic system of hot, cold, moist, and dry properties. Of particular gemological interest are the sections dealing with stones, earths, metals, and mineral substances used medicinally, preserving important classical traditions concerning the supposed healing properties of gems and other inorganic materials.