A compact variety or sulphate of lime, or gypsum, of fine texture, and usually white and translucent, but sometimes yellow, red, or gray. It is carved into vases, mantel ornaments, etc.
A hard, compact variety of carbonate of lime, somewhat translucent, or of banded shades of color; stalagmite. The name is used in this sense by Pliny. It is sometimes distinguished as oriental alabaster.
A fine-grained, translucent variety of gypsum (calcium sulfate) used in sculpture. It may be pure white or streaked with reddish brown. Alabaster, like all other forms of gypsum, forms by the evaporation of bedded deposits that are precipitated mainly from evaporating seawater. It is soft enough to be scratched with a fingernail and hence it is easily broken, soiled, and weathered. Because of its softness, alabaster is often carved for statuary and other decorative purposes. It is quarried in England and in Italy.
Fine-grained translucent marble used in Egyptian sculpture during the Greco-Roman era.
A shaker dish of mashed potatoes and turnips, name after the silvery white color. Back to the top
A fine-textured, compact variety of sulfate or lime or gypsum. A milky white or semi-translucent marble-like material used for ornaments and sculpture.
A fine grained stone that is usually gray or white in color and is slightly translucent
A fine-grained variety of gypsum, often white and translucent.
soft, fine grained translucent stone: white or pastel coloured gypsum, often with streaks of deeper colour: breaks and scratches easily
a compact fine-textured usually white gypsum used for carving
a hard compact kind of calcite
A mane given to a stalagmitic or stalactitic calcium carbonate and a calcium sulfate (gypsum). The calcium carbonate variety is a translucent stone of yellowish milky color, while the calcium sulfate has a fine granular quality. The latter was abundant in Tuscany and Piedmont, and when carved into statues and vases is frequently sold a “Florentine Marbleâ€.
Finely granular variety of gypsum, often white and translucent used for ornamental objects such as sculptures and vases.
Dense, granular variety of Gypsum. White, yellow, orange to brown. (Hardness 1.5 - 2.5)
(12) -- a fine, translucent variety of carbonate or sulphate of lime, especially the pure white variety used for vases (Oxford Dict.)
A fine-grained gypsum or calcite, often white and translucent, though sometimes delicately tinted.
a fine-grained form of gypsum or limestone, white or reddish or yellowish white and translucent. It was used, cut into thin laminae, for church windows in the Middle Ages, notably in Italy, e.g. San Vitale, Ravenna.
A translucent, soft stone, usually white or light yellow, used in sculpture.
a variety of hard calcite that is translucent and sometimes banded.
A white or delicately tinted fine-grained gypsum.
A dense, translucent, white or tinted, fine-grained gypsum.
A variety of gypsum (a mineral) which is translucent and milky white, and can be carved into beads or statues.
A white translucent species of gypsum or sulphate of lime composed of crystalline grains in a compact mass. It is capable of being worked to a high degree of finish and taking a fine polish.
A fine-textured, usually white, gypsum that is easily carved and translucent when thin.
Light colored or translucent calcite or gypsum
A form of the mineral gypsum which is usually white or grey in color. It is often used in sculpture, stone paneling, beads, and cabochon
Usually used for carved ornaments, this is a fine-grained gypsum.
Alabaster (sometimes called satin spar) is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals: gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of calcium) and the calcite (a carbonate of calcium). The former is the alabaster of the present day; the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients.