Quantcast
  We apologize for any slow response. This will be fixed before October 31st Portal logo
Login/Register
Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
/gemstones/king-gems-decorative-stones/page_298 - 2
 

Sardonyx

Sardonyx Page of 384 Sardonyx Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
SARDONYX.
289
exhibited innumerable gradations, into red, yellow, brown, and black." From this explanation we can understand Pliny's observation that the base (substratum) of the Indian kind was found of a wax, or a horn colour; and the middle zones (circuli), sometimes colourless and trans­parent (abbi), with a certain faint iridescence ; whilst the surface was " redder than a lobster's shell." Those from Armenia,* fine in other respects, had the middle zone too pale. The merit of the Arabian lay in a brilliant whiteness of this zone, which was of considerable width (non gracili), and which beamed forth (ridente) not upon the slope or low down in the gem, but upon the very projection (umbonibus) ; the base also being of the deepest black. Köhler, misled by the expression umbonibus, which he takes for the surface of the gem (which Pliny always terms unguis, or superficies), interprets this definition as if intended for our Nicoli, to which it does not by any means apply when rightly understood. Besides the fact that Pliny is speaking here of a stone necessarily having three layers, his thickness of the white zone is a sufficient refuta­tion to Kohler's hypothesis, the top layer in the Nicolo being of infinitesimal tenuity.
Zenothemis recorded that the Sardonyx was held in no estimation by the Indians, who, instead of using it in jewelry, made sword handles out of it, so large were the pieces in wbich it occurred. These, it was well known, were picked up in the beds of torrents. They first came into request in Europe, when it was observed that they were almost the only class of gems which when engraved did not pull away the (soft) sealing-wax. f The natives at
* Whence probably the early Persians got the material in which »me cylinders (though of extreme rarity) are to be found.
t Here we have the reason supplied us for the finest early engravings, whether called Etruscan or Greek, being so often found upon the Sar-donyx, cut traversely : now improperly designated a Banded Agate.
(â)                                                                                            U
Sardonyx Page of 384 Sardonyx
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page