page_title: Hardstone carving
section_title: Scope of the term
hierarchical_section_title: Hardstone carving / Scope of the term
caption_attribution_description: English: Serpentine paten with fish. Paten: 1st century BCE/CE; mount: court of Charles the Bald (second half of the 9th century). Serpentine, gold, glass and gems. Français&#160;: Patène en serpentine aux poissons. Patène&#160;: Ier siècle av. J.-C./ap. J.-C.&#160;; monture&#160;: cour de Charles le Chauve (seconde moitié du IXe siècle). Serpentine, or, verres et pierres précieuses.
context_page_description: Hardstone carving is a general term in art history and archaeology for the artistic carving of predominantly semi-precious stones, such as jade, rock crystal, agate, onyx, jasper, serpentinite, or carnelian, and for an object made in this way. Normally the objects are small, and the category overlaps with both jewellery and sculpture. Hardstone carving is sometimes referred to by the Italian term pietre dure; however, pietra dura is the common term used for stone inlay work, which causes some confusion.
  From the Neolithic period until about the 19th century such objects were among the most highly prized in a wide variety of cultures, often attributed special powers or religious significance, but today coverage in non-specialist art history tends to be relegated to a catch-all decorative arts or "minor arts" category. The types of objects carved have included those with ritual or religious purposes, engraved gems as signet rings and other kinds of seal, handles, belt hooks and similar items, vessels and purely decorative objects.
context_section_description: Hardstone carving falls under the general category of glyptic art, which covers small carvings and sculpture in all categories of stone. The definition in this context of "hardstone" is unscientific and not very rigid, but excludes "soft" stones such as soapstone (steatite) and minerals such as alabaster, both widely used for carving, as well as typical stones for building and monumental sculpture, such as marble and other types of limestone, and sandstone. These are typically not capable of a fine finish in very small carvings, and would wear in prolonged use. In other contexts, such as architecture, "hard stone" and "soft stone" have different meanings, referring to actual measured hardness using the Mohs scale of mineral hardness and other measures. Some rocks used in architecture and monumental sculpture, such as granite, are at least as hard as the gemstones, and others such as malachite are relatively soft but counted as hardstones because of their rarity and fine colour.
  Essentially, any stone that is often used in jewellery is likely to count as a hardstone. Hard organic minerals such as amber and jet are included, as well as the mineraloid obsidian. Hardstones normally have to be drilled rather than worked with edged tools to achieve a fine finish. Geologically speaking, most of the gemstones traditionally carved in the West are varieties of quartz, including: chalcedony, agate, amethyst, sard, onyx, carnelian, heliotrope, jasper, and quartz in its uncoloured and transparent form, known as rock crystal. The various materials called jade have been dominant in East Asian and Mesoamerican carving. Stones typically used for buildings and large sculpture are not often used for small objects such as vessels, although this does occur. For example, in the Uruk period of Sumerian culture (4th millennium BCE) heavy vases, cups and ewers of sandstone and limestone have been found, but were not for common use, as the people of Uruk had well-developed pottery.
caption: Dish of serpentine with inlaid gold fish, 1st century BCE or CE, with 9th-century mounts
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