gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Writing under the pseudonym Jan ze Śliwina, Adam Honory Kirkor presents a historical and antiquarian guide to Vilnius and its surroundings, describing the city’s churches, monasteries, monuments, notable buildings, collections, archaeological remains, and places associated with Lithuanian history. The work combines a walking guide with historical notices drawn from documentary and antiquarian sources and records objects and discoveries known in and around Vilnius during the mid-nineteenth century. Of mineralogical and archaeological interest are references to prehistoric stone implements and antiquities found in the region, material that later figured in discussions of the distribution and provenance of polished stone artifacts in northeastern Europe. The book provides useful contemporary evidence for the developing archaeological study of Lithuania and for objects preserved in local collections before the establishment of more systematic archaeological institutions.

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

Foetterle provides a concise survey of the geology and mineral resources of South America, synthesizing contemporary geological and geographical information for the continent. The paper outlines the principal geological formations and mountain systems and notes the distribution of economically important mineral deposits. Particular attention is given to the mineral wealth associated with the Andes and Brazil, including precious metals and occurrences of precious and ornamental stones. As an early attempt to summarize South American geology on a continental scale, the article is useful for tracing mid-nineteenth-century European knowledge of the geographical distribution of mineral and gem resources before systematic geological mapping had been completed across much of the continent.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Dias examines the historical tradition that a nation or society of warrior women—the legendary Amazons—once existed in Brazil, a question posed to him by Emperor Pedro II and the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. Comparing classical traditions with accounts of early European explorers and later travelers in South America, he critically reviews reports associated particularly with Francisco de Orellana’s sixteenth-century descent of the Amazon River and the supposed encounters with communities of female warriors from which the river acquired its European name. Dias considers the credibility of the various witnesses, the transmission and embellishment of their stories, and attempts to relate South American traditions to the Amazons of classical antiquity. He argues that repetition by successive writers transformed uncertain reports into accepted historical tradition and finds no convincing eyewitness evidence for the existence of a distinct nation of Amazons in Brazil. The study is an early example of critical Brazilian historiography applied to exploration narratives, Indigenous traditions, and European interpretations of the Amazon region.

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

Buschmann’s extensive study examines Aztec (Nahuatl) place names and their linguistic structure, meanings, geographical distribution, and historical significance, drawing on early Mexican sources and contemporary geographical knowledge. He analyzes the component words used in indigenous toponyms and uses them to investigate the distribution and migrations of Nahuatl-speaking peoples through Mexico and Central America. Of particular interest to the history of jade and gemstones, p. 714 discusses place names incorporating Nahuatl terms associated with precious stones or greenstone, providing evidence for the geographical and linguistic use of such terminology in pre-Hispanic Mexico. The paper is an important nineteenth-century contribution to the comparative study of Nahuatl language, ethnography, and historical geography.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

This substantially revised edition of William Phillips’s classic mineralogical textbook presents a systematic introduction to mineralogy based principally on crystallographic form, physical properties, chemical composition, and geological occurrence. Revised and enlarged by Henry James Brooke and William Hallowes Miller, it incorporates the major advances in crystallography and mineral chemistry made since Phillips’s earlier editions, with Miller’s crystallographic expertise giving the work particular scientific importance. Individual mineral species are described with their characteristic crystal forms, cleavage, hardness, specific gravity, lustre, colour, composition, localities, and varieties, including numerous minerals of gemological interest such as diamond, corundum (ruby and sapphire), spinel, beryl (emerald), topaz, tourmaline, garnet, quartz, zircon, and feldspar. The volume provides a useful mid-nineteenth-century record of mineral classification and nomenclature at a period when crystallography and chemical analysis were becoming firmly established as the foundations of systematic mineralogy.

gems, China, history of gems

The first complete European translation of the Zhouli (Rites of Zhou), one of the major classical Chinese texts concerning the organization and institutions of the Zhou state. Biot’s two-volume French translation describes an elaborate administrative system, including government offices, court ceremonies, crafts, commerce, taxation, ritual, and the management of natural resources. Of particular gemological interest are numerous references to jade and other valued stones, their classification, working, official control, ritual functions, and prescribed use in insignia, ceremonial objects, and ornaments, making the work an important source for understanding the institutional and symbolic role of jade in ancient China.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A theoretical and analytical study of “polymeric isomorphism,” Scheerer’s concept for explaining how minerals of similar crystalline form could possess differing chemical compositions through systematic substitutions among groups of constituents. Drawing on chemical analyses of a range of minerals, he examines relationships between composition, atomic proportions, and isomorphous replacement in an effort to refine contemporary mineral classification. The paper is significant in the development of nineteenth-century mineral chemistry and in attempts to explain compositional variation within apparently related mineral species. Gives early chemical analyses of nephrite jade.

gems, jade, Poland, Fischer-Book

A study of archaeological objects from the territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Lithuanian Rus’, examining antiquities associated with art, crafts, and material culture. Tyszkiewicz discusses archaeological finds and their forms, materials, manufacture, and historical significance as evidence for the peoples who inhabited the region. The work belongs to the formative period of archaeology in Lithuania and reflects nineteenth-century efforts to document and classify prehistoric and historical artifacts from the region.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, Brazil, Natural history

A brief notice concerning polished stone axes from Brazil identified as jade. Penna records these artifacts in an archaeological and ethnographic context, reflecting nineteenth-century interest in the distinctive hard greenstone axes found among Indigenous Brazilian antiquities. The notice is relevant to the history of jade studies because such South American implements became part of the wider debate over the identification, provenance, and distribution of so-called jade implements found far from the traditionally recognized Asian sources.

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

A comprehensive mineralogical handbook presenting Breithaupt’s classification and description of minerals according to their physical properties, crystallography, composition, and occurrence. The work reflects the mid-nineteenth-century development of systematic mineralogy and provides descriptions of numerous mineral species and varieties, including many materials of gemological interest. It is particularly useful for tracing historical mineral names, classifications, physical-property data, and the changing distinction between mineral species and ornamental stones.