gems, jade, Fischer-Book, musical instruments made of jade

Delafosse presents a comprehensive course in mineralogy covering the physical, crystallographic, chemical, and practical characteristics of the mineral species recognized in the mid-nineteenth century, with particular attention to their identification, classification, occurrence, and applications in the arts and industry. Minerals are described according to properties such as crystalline form, hardness, specific gravity, cleavage, color, luster, transparency, and chemical composition, together with information on important localities and uses. The work includes descriptions of precious and ornamental stones and thus provides a useful contemporary account of the mineralogical understanding and classification of gem materials.

corundum, history.1, gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Del Sotto publishes and studies a fourteenth-century French lapidary, providing a nineteenth-century edition of a medieval text devoted to precious stones and the properties traditionally attributed to them. The lapidary describes numerous stones, their names, appearance, supposed geographical origins, and methods of recognition, together with the medicinal, protective, magical, and astrological virtues they were believed to possess. As was characteristic of medieval lapidary literature, empirical observations concerning minerals are interwoven with traditions inherited from classical, biblical, Arabic, and earlier medieval authorities. The volume is particularly valuable for the history of gemology because it preserves medieval gemstone nomenclature and beliefs and illustrates how precious stones were understood before the development of modern mineralogical classification. Del Sotto’s edition also provides a useful philological source for tracing the transmission and changing meanings of European gemstone names.

gems, jade, Fischer, Central America, South America

This revised and expanded account of Nicaragua by American diplomat and archaeologist Ephraim George Squier describes the country’s geography, peoples, natural resources, antiquities, economy, political condition, and prospects for an inter-oceanic canal. Drawing on Squier’s travels and diplomatic service in Central America, it includes extensive observations on indigenous cultures and archaeological remains, with descriptions and illustrations of monuments, sculptures, pottery, stone implements, and personal ornaments. Of particular relevance to gemological and jade studies are references to pre-Columbian objects fashioned from valued green stones and other lapidary materials, as well as observations on Nicaragua’s mineral resources and indigenous use of stone. The volume is also important for documenting nineteenth-century interpretations of Central American antiquities before the development of modern archaeological methods. As a substantially revised, single-volume successor to Squier’s 1852 Nicaragua: Its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the Proposed Inter-oceanic Canal, it provides a useful early source for the archaeology, mineral resources, and material culture of Nicaragua.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Burton recounts the East African expedition of 1857–1859 undertaken with John Hanning Speke, during which Europeans first documented Lake Tanganyika and gathered information on the interior of eastern and central Africa. He describes the routes from the Zanzibar coast through present-day Tanzania, the geography and peoples encountered, political conditions, natural history, and the extensive caravan trade linking the African interior with the Indian Ocean. Of particular relevance to gemological and mineralogical history are observations on mineral resources, ornaments, beads, and other valued materials employed in local and long-distance trade. Burton gives especially detailed attention to the commercial importance of beads as currency and barter goods, recording their varieties, colors, names, relative values, and differing regional preferences. The work provides valuable evidence for nineteenth-century East African trade networks and the role played by beads, ornaments, metals, ivory, and other prestige materials in exchanges between coastal merchants and communities of the interior.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, Acuña

Markham brings together English translations of early Spanish accounts of expeditions into the Amazon basin, principally those associated with Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana in 1539–1542 and Pedro Teixeira’s voyage of 1637–1639. The narratives describe journeys through the Andes and along the Amazon, encounters with Indigenous peoples, settlements, warfare, food and natural resources, geography, rivers, and the difficulties faced by the expeditions. Of particular historical interest is the account of Orellana’s descent of the Amazon and the reported encounter with female warriors that contributed to the river becoming known to Europeans as the River of the Amazons. The volume provides important early testimony concerning European exploration and perceptions of the Amazon basin, although many descriptions reflect the assumptions and uncertainties of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century observers.

gems, jade, pyroxene jade, jadeite, fei cui, omphacite, kosmochlor, Mesoamerica, Guatemala, Olmec, Maya, Fischer-Book, Mexico, Aztec

Buschmann presents an extensive comparative linguistic investigation of the geographical spread and relationships of Nahuatl (Aztec) and related languages, tracing linguistic evidence northward from central Mexico through northern Mexico and into the southwestern and western regions of North America. Using vocabularies, place names, early historical accounts, and comparative word lists, he attempts to identify relationships between Nahuatl and the languages of indigenous peoples farther north and to reconstruct patterns of migration and cultural contact. Of particular relevance to gemological history, p. 161 discusses terminology associated with chalchihuitl, the highly valued green or blue-green stone of the ancient Mexicans, in connection with indigenous mineral and color vocabulary. The work is valuable for the nineteenth-century history of attempts to interpret Nahuatl gemstone terminology and the geographical and linguistic distribution of terms associated with precious green stones.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Sinkankas: Essentially an encyclopedia of gemstones and technical terms connected with the jewelry trade presented in terse, informative language. There are 80 articles devoted to as many terms, including gemstone varieties as well as species, all in alphabetical order. Each gemstone article provides all essential data on properties, deposits, methods of cutting, uses, and specific retail prices as then current. The folding plates are of great interest and attractively and realistically drawn. The first depicts curiously-shaped rough diamond specimens as well as crystals but it is obvious that Barbot knew little about crystallography because several impossible crystal forms are shown, e.g., a pentagonal dodecahedron, and a 24-faced solid, classical geometrical solids not occurring in actual crystals. Also on this plate are sketches of lapidary apparatus and styles of brilliant and rose cuts. The second plate shows a large number of famous diamonds and the third plate gives several cutting styles of diamonds in addition to a graduated series of brilliants and rose cuts with corresponding carat weights. Noted in the title, Barbot’s “invention” of a diamond decolorizing process is only briefly discussed in vague terms (p. 229) with no details given except to say that heat and several strong chemicals are employed. Readers are encouraged to send in their stones for treatment and several pages are devoted to extolling the benefits to be expected.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, Europe, Poland

Kraszewski’s Sztuka u Słowian examines the early art and material culture of the Slavic peoples, drawing on archaeological discoveries, historical sources, and comparative antiquarian studies. He discusses ornaments, weapons, vessels, sculpture, and objects of stone, metal, and other materials as evidence for the artistic development and everyday life of early Slavic communities. Particular attention is given to archaeological artifacts and their forms, decoration, manufacture, and possible cultural affiliations. Of relevance to mineralogical and prehistoric studies are polished stone implements and ornaments, including greenstone objects whose material and provenance became subjects of increasing archaeological interest during the nineteenth century. The work represents an early Polish contribution to the study of Slavic archaeology and material culture, at a time when archaeological classification and the identification of the raw materials used for prehistoric artifacts were still developing.

gems, jade, turquoise, jadeite, fei cui, Guatemala, Mesoamerica, Mexico

Blake examines the chalchihuitl of the ancient Mexicans, a highly valued blue-green stone frequently mentioned in early Spanish accounts, and argues that at least some material bearing this name was turquoise. Drawing on mineralogical specimens, archaeological objects, historical sources, and information on geological occurrence, he discusses turquoise deposits in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico and considers their possible relationship to stones used and traded in pre-Columbian Mexico. Blake compares the appearance and properties of turquoise with descriptions of chalchihuitl and addresses the geographical sources from which the material might have reached central Mexico. The paper is an important early mineralogical contribution to the long-running debate over the meaning of chalchihuitl, although the Nahuatl term is now understood to have encompassed green and blue-green precious materials more broadly and cannot simply be equated with turquoise.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Compiled by Francis L. Hawks from the journals and official records of Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his officers, this volume presents the narrative of the United States naval expedition to Japan in 1852–1854 that resulted in the Convention of Kanagawa and the opening of Japanese ports to American vessels (at gunpoint; so much for the 'rule of law'). It describes the expedition’s voyages through the China Seas and Japan, diplomatic negotiations, geography, natural history, commerce, customs, industries, and material culture, with numerous illustrations and maps. Of mineralogical and gemological interest are observations on Japanese mineral resources, manufactured objects, ornaments, and the stones and other natural materials employed in decorative and practical arts. The work is also valuable for its detailed contemporary documentation of Japanese crafts and commodities immediately before the rapid expansion of Western contact during the Meiji era.