hardstone

And there are illuminating examples of numerous types of hardstone in their natural and polished states, as well as a complete 18th-century series of gold-mounted snuff-boxes in different hardstones.

Intricate Objects, From 2008

Works in hardstone were produced in the ancient world, and when unearthed centuries later they provided the inspiration for the revival of the tradition in the Renaissance.

Intricate Objects, From 2008

Here much of the beauty stems from the natural colors and patterns of the hardstone specimens as well as the extraordinary intricacy of the design.

Intricate Objects, From 2008

A large hardstone portrait of Pope Clement VIII, his bearded face and elaborate vestments meticulously pieced together out of colored marble and mother-of-pearl, is as stiffly naïve in appearance as a picture painted by numbers -- especially when you walk into the nearby painting galleries to see the subtle brushwork that was a hallmark of 16th - and 17th-century Italian portraiture.

Intricate Objects, From 2008

Smaller in scale but profoundly satisfying in its restraint is a 17th-century ebony jewelry case with gilt bronze figures and hardstone fruits and pearls made for the Tuscan Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere (whose personal art collection formed the basis of the Uffizi Gallery).

Intricate Objects, From 2008

It features over 170 of these objects, from small display pieces, such as a 16th-century hardstone cameo depicting the Florentine Duke Cosimo I de Medici and his family, to elaborate tables entirely inlaid with colored hardstone designs, to great cabinets and chapel altars, fantasy pieces that were among the prized possessions of princes, popes and those nobles wealthy enough to afford them.

Intricate Objects, From 2008

Heavy belt, sharp boots, bulging pouch, hardstone signet ring with a thick laced strapwork setting. all his accessories were good.

See Delphi and Die Davis, Lindsey 2005

She sat at the great table of gilt and hardstone where her husband Philip had sat, a young king, in the old days of the civil wars which men of no more than sixty could still remember, and men of seventy had fought in.

Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

At a massive table of inlaid hardstone with lion-feet of gilded bronze, Eurydike sat in the royal study.

Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

It is built in a division of three fronts in the corinthic order: each of them consists in four raizing columns, resting upon a general basement, from the one end of the forefront to the other, and supporting a cornish, equally running all over the face; upon this cornish rests a balustrad, like the other pieces altogether of Bremen-hardstone.

Notes and Queries, Number 79, May 3, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc Various 1852