Hardstone carving

The art is very ancient, going back to the Indus Valley civilization and beyond, and major traditions include cylinder seals and other small carvings in the Ancient Near East, which were also made in softer stones. Inlays of semi-precious stones were often used for decoration or highlights in sculptures of other materials, for example statues often had eyes inlaid with white shell and blue lapis lazuli or another stone.[7]

Chinese jade carving begins with the carving of ritual objects, including blades for ji and dagger-axes clearly never intended for use, and the "Six Ritual Jades" including the bi and cong, which according to much later literature represented heaven and earth respectively.[8] These are found from the Neolithic Liangzhu culture (3400-2250 BCE) onwards, and blades from the 2nd millennium BCE Shang dynasty on.[9] Traditional Chinese culture attaches strong powers to jade; the jade burial suits in which aristocrats of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) were buried were intended to preserve the body from decay.[10]

Fatimid carved rock crystal ewer, c. 1000, with 11th-century Italian lid.

The Chinese and other cultures often attributed specific properties for detecting and neutralizing poison to gemstones, a belief still alive in the European Renaissance, as shown by the works of Georgius Agricola, the "father of mineralogy".[11] The English word "jade" derives (via the Spanish piedra de ijada) from the Aztec belief that the mineral cured ailments of the kidneys and sides.[12] The Han period also saw the beginning of the tradition of fine decorative jade carving which has lasted until modern times, though the fine carving of other hardstones did not develop until the 17th century, and then appears to have been produced in different workshops and styles from those for jade.[13] In general whiteish nephrite jade was the most highly regarded in China until about 1800, when the deeper and brighter green of the best jadeite became more highly favoured. There are related Asian traditions of Korean jade carving, in Southeast Asia and, to a much lesser extent, Japan.

Smallish Sassanian carvings are known, mostly for seals or jewellery; the central medallion of the "Cup of Chosroes" (gallery) is one of the largest. Egyptian carving of rock crystal into vessels appears in the late 10th century, and virtually disappears after about 1040. In 1062 the Cairo palace of the Fatimid Caliphate was looted by his mercenaries, and the examples found in European treasuries, like the one illustrated, may have been acquired as the booty was dispersed. The rock crystal used in Egypt was apparently traded from East Africa.[14]

Until recently it was thought that jade carving was introduced to the central Asian Islamic world in the Timurid period, but it is becoming clearer that archers' thumb rings, knife hilts, and various other objects had been carved for centuries, even millennia before, though in limited numbers.[15] Islamic jades and other carvings reached a particular peak in the Mughal Empire, where apart from portable carvings inlaid panels of carved stones were included in buildings such as the Taj Mahal.[16] The great wealth of the Mughal court allowed precious stones like rubies and emeralds to be inset freely in objects. The court workshops of the Ottoman Empire also produced lavish and elaborate objects, in similar styles but without reaching the artistic peaks of Mughal carving.[17]

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  Chinese jade ornament, Western Han dynasty
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  Chinese jade hair ornament, 1115–1234
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  "Cup of Chosroes", from Sassanian Persia. Rock crystal, glass, and other stones
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  Mughal cup of jade, emeralds, rubies and gold

Cup of the Ptolemies in onyx, probably Alexandria, 1st century BCE or CE.

From the early civilizations of the near East descended the carving of vessels and small statues in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and subsequent Western art, and also Sassanian Persia; however it is not very significant in the art of ancient Egypt, outside jewellery, as alabaster was a more common material. The jade signet ring of Tutankhamun has been called a "unique specimen" of Egyptian jade.[18] Among the seals of the Minoan civilization during the Aegean Bronze Age, the Pylos Combat Agate dated circa 1450 BC is considered one of the finest works of that era, depicting naturalistic details of the human body comparable to works of the much later Classical period.[19]

Hardstone carving more often refers to vessels and figures than smaller engraved gems for seal rings or made as objéts d'art, which were the main artistic expression of hardstone carving in the Greek Classical and Hellenistic periods, and are regarded separately. From the Hellenistic period elaborate vessels in semi-precious stone begin to appear, mostly carved, some in cameo. The Cup of the Ptolemies and Farnese Cup both appear to have been made in Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt, as does a simpler fluted sardonyx cup in Washington which, like the Cup of the Ptolemies, was adapted to be a Christian chalice, and given elaborate gold and jewelled mounts by Abbot Suger for his Abbey of St Denis about 1140.[20] The elaborately carved Rubens Vase, now in Baltimore, is thought to date from the 4th century.[21]

From the Late Antique plainer shapes for vessels appear, concentrating on showing the natural patterns of figured stones - survivals of these are hard to date, and mostly have survived in church treasuries with medieval mounts in goldsmith work. The best collection of Byzantine liturgical vessels is in the Treasury of San Marco, Venice, some of them booty from the Fourth Crusade.[22] Byzantine artists maintained a tradition throughout the Middle Ages, often working in clear rock crystal. There are a few large pieces from Carolingian art, including the Lothair Crystal, and then a continuing tradition of rock crystal work, often used undecorated in reliquaries and other pieces in the same way as modern glass, for which they are often mistaken by modern viewers. By the end of the Middle Ages a wider variety of stones and objects are seen, used for both religious objects and secular ones.

Detail of 19th-century pietra dura panel

The Opificio delle pietre dure ("Hardstone workshop") founded by the Medici in Florence in 1588 soon became the leading workshop in Europe, and developed the pietra dura style of multi-coloured inlays, which use coloured marbles as well as gemstones. They also produced vessels and small sculptures from a single piece of stone, often mounted with gold, which was also a speciality of Milanese workshops.[23] Other rulers followed their example, including Peter the Great, whose Peterhof Lapidary Works, founded in 1721, began the passion among Russian royalty and aristocrats for hardstones. Engraved gem production had already revived, centred on Venice but with artists in many countries, and gems of very high quality continued to be produced until the mid-19th century. The Mannerist court taste of the 16th century delighted in extravagant vessels for serving fruit or sweetmeats, or display as table centrepieces or on sideboards, with hardstones augmented with mounts and bases in precious metal, enamel and jewels. One collection that has remained mostly together is the "Dauphin's Treasure" of Louis, Dauphin of France (1661–1711), which passed to his son Philip V of Spain; over 120 objects are now displayed together in the Museo del Prado, many of which were already over a century old in the Dauphin's lifetime.[24]

In contrast to the vast malachite vases that rather typify Russian carving (picture below),[25] the last notable modern producer was Fabergé in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Before he produced the famous Imperial Easter Eggs he made his reputation with small hardstone figures of animals and people, typically only 25–75mm long or wide, and small vases with a few flowers—the vase and "water" in rock crystal and the flowers in various hardstones and enamel.[26]

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  Ancient Roman cameo engraved gem of Augustus
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  Byzantine paten of sard, 6–7th century(?), with later mounts
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  Florentine(?) Mannerist salt cellar, 16th century. Onyx bowl, gold mermaid, with gold and jewelled mounts.
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  The Punishment of Tityos, a rock crystal intaglio engraved gem by Giovanni Bernardi

Olmec face mask in jade

Beyond the Old World, hardstone carving was important in various Pre-Columbian cultures, including jade in Mesoamerica and obsidian in Mesoamerica. Because its colour had associations with water and vegetation, jade was also a symbol of life to many cultures; the Maya placed jade beads in the mouths of the dead. Lacking iron, jade was the hardest material the Pre-Columbians were able to work with, apart from emery.

A particular type of object running through the long history of Mesoamerican cultures from the Olmec to the Maya and Aztec is the face "mask" in semi-precious stone (they do not seem to have been for actually wearing), either carved from a single piece or of pieces inlaid on a backing of another material. Curators refer to "Olmec-style" face masks as despite being Olmec in style, to date no example has been recovered in a controlled archaeological Olmec context. However they have been recovered from sites of other cultures, including one deliberately deposited in the ceremonial precinct of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), which would presumably have been about 2,000 years old when the Aztecs buried it, suggesting these were valued and collected as Roman antiquities were in Europe.[27] The Aztecs' own masks are more typically of turquoise inlay, the Mayans' of jade inlay (see gallery).

Another supposed type of Pre-Columbian hardstone carving is the rock crystal skull; however experts are now satisfied that all known large (life-size) examples are 19th-century forgeries, though some miniature ones may be genuinely Pre-Columbian.

The Māori people of New Zealand, developed the carving of pounamu (jade) for weapons, tools and ornaments to a high standard.[28]