Alabaster stone - ancient and famous. His name is a tribute to the Egyptian goddess of joy, Bast. Its purpose is chiseled vases and home decorations. Translucent alabaster, glowing in the sun, millennia ago was considered a sign of a rich home.
In fact, mineral alabaster is gypsum, but its whitest and hardest variety. The terminological confusion arose in antiquity: Theophrastus called plaster chalk, and alabaster was isolated in a separate mineral. However, in our time, both gypsum and alabaster are one and the same, aqueous calcium sulfate CaSO42H2O. This is the chemical formula of alabaster, pure, without impurities, often found in natural stone deposits.
In the linguistic practice of different nations, alabaster is also called an astringent building material based on gypsum, and travertine, and marl, and even marble. Such ambiguity is difficult to avoid, since the popularity of the material has several millennia.
History of Alabaster
Pliny began to write a poetic story of the extraction and use of alabaster. The famous Jewish historian talked about the mineral Alabastrite, mined in Egyptian Alabastra and Syrian Damascus. At that time, household containers and lamps were made from white translucent stone.
Small vessels for white mineral oil were the most successful. Therefore, the name of the stone was transferred to them and attached to them. In ancient times, Alabastar was called a capacious bottle with a narrow neck.
A small alabaster made during the time of Artaxerxes (as reported by the carved inscription on the side of the vessel) was found already in the Urals. A thousand years older than the Ural find, the ruins of the Knossos palace of the island of Crete. Here, natural alabaster was used as decoration material for office space.
The composition of alabaster determines its properties
Alabaster differs from simple gypsum in the cryptocrystalline nature of the rock mass. Solid fibrous formations of microscopic section penetrate the thickness of the mineral. Such a structure provides both sufficient strength and noticeable light transmission of the stone.
Alabaster often includes impurities, tinting the array and decorating the stone with patterns. Silky reflection of the surface, lunar luminescence, weakly expressed pearls of alabaster are often associated with the loss of moisture by the mineral.
Dehydrated alabaster goes into the category of anhydrites, however, it usually adds in external expressiveness. Direct contact of dehydrated alabaster with water leads to an increase in the volume of the product, which is fraught with the appearance of cracks in the walls.
Colorless and colored varieties of alabaster are widely found and have been in high demand for centuries. The snow-white pure stone from the vicinity of Pisa to this day gives work to stone carvers.
A somewhat less presentable "Zhiguli marble" is used for the manufacture of salt shakers and ashtrays, night lights and candlesticks. Figured alabaster of various natural colors is mined in Ukraine. Reddish and greenish alabaster stained with non-ferrous metal salts are found in areas of close proximity to mineral deposits.
Alabaster jewelry
The importance of alabaster as a mineral for the manufacture of jewelry has not declined over the past millennia. If the Egyptian pharaohs and Greek kings decorated their dwellings mainly with alabaster vases, today less pretentious interior products are in favor.
Alabaster in the photo in the illustrations to our article is presented as interesting geological samples, as well as works of stone-cutting art. It is necessary, however, to distinguish stucco crafts from alabaster and sculpture, which came out from under the cutter of the master. Even alabaster galtovka, assembled in inexpensive bracelets and necklaces, is more impressive than the patterned cast figures.
Special expressiveness is inherent in alabaster jewelry. The bracelet, made of cream-colored beads interspersed with balls of golden wire, looks fresh, bold and weighty. Cabochon-honed colored alabaster turns into attractive inserts for rings, earrings and pendants. Exquisite carved miniatures, not intended to be worn, replenish the collection of connoisseurs of pristine freshness of native alabaster.
Multilevel chandeliers with shades carved from monolithic alabaster are quite expensive, but extremely spectacular. Such products are especially appropriate in the ceremonial double-room halls, decorated in classic styles.