, d. 1323 BC Typically only one type is sculpted in any particular cultural environment, but sometimes both have been worked to make similar pieces in the same place and time. This was the case with small flasks of the
alabastron type made in
Cyprus from the
Bronze Age into the Classical period.
Window panels When cut into thin sheets, alabaster is translucent enough to be used for small windows. It was used for this purpose in Byzantine churches and later in
medieval ones, especially in
Italy. Large sheets of Aragonese gypsum alabaster are used extensively in the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, The cathedral incorporates special cooling to prevent the panes from overheating and turning opaque. while the modern Los Angeles cathedral employs gypsum alabaster. There are also multiple examples of alabaster windows in ordinary village churches and monasteries in northern Spain.
Calcite alabaster Calcite alabaster, harder than the gypsum variety, was used in ancient Egypt and the wider Middle East (except
Assyrian palace reliefs), and also in modern times. It is found as either a
stalagmitic deposit from the floor and walls of
limestone caverns, or as a kind of
travertine, similarly deposited in springs of calcareous water. Its deposition in successive layers gives rise to the banded appearance that the marble often shows on cross-section, from which its name is derived: onyx-marble or alabaster-onyx, or sometimes simply (and wrongly) as
onyx.
North America In
Mexico, there are famous deposits of a delicate green variety at La Pedrara, in the district of Tecali, near
Puebla. Onyx-marble occurs also in the district of
Tehuacán and at several localities in the US including
California,
Arizona,
Utah,
Colorado and
Virginia. In Mesopotamia, gypsum alabaster was the material of choice for figures of deities and devotees in temples, as in a figure believed to represent the deity
Abu dating to the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, which is kept in New York.
Aragon, Spain Much of the world's alabaster is extracted from the centre of the
Ebro Valley in
Aragon,
Spain, which has the world's largest known exploitable deposits. According to a brochure published by the Aragon government, alabaster has elsewhere either been depleted, or its extraction is so difficult that it has almost been abandoned or is carried out at a very high cost. During the
Middle Ages the craft of alabaster was almost completely forgotten. In the 17th and 18th centuries production of artistic, high-quality Renaissance-style artifacts stopped altogether, replaced by less sophisticated, cheaper items better suited for large-scale production and commerce. The new industry prospered, but the reduced need for skilled craftsmen left few of them still working. The 19th century brought a boom to the industry, largely due to the "traveling artisans" who offered their wares to the palaces of Europe, as well as to America and the East.
England and Wales , typical
Nottingham alabaster panel from an altarpiece set, 1450–1490, showing remnants of its painted decoration. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Gypsum alabaster is a common mineral, which occurs in England in the
Keuper marls of the
Midlands, especially at
Chellaston in
Derbyshire, at Fauld in
Staffordshire, and near
Newark in
Nottinghamshire. Deposits at all of these localities have been worked extensively. In the 14th and 15th centuries the carving into small statues and sets of
relief panels for
altarpieces was a valuable
local industry in Nottingham, as well as a major English export. These were usually painted, or partly painted. It was also used for the effigies, often life size, on
tomb monuments, as the typical recumbent position suited the material's lack of strength, and it was cheaper and easier to work than good marble. After the
English Reformation the making of altarpiece sets was discontinued, but funerary monument work in reliefs and statues continued. In addition to the carvings still in Britain (particularly the
Nottingham Castle Museum,
British Museum, and
Victoria and Albert Museum), trade in mineral alabaster (other than the antiques trade) is ongoing as far afield as the
Musée de Cluny, Spain, and Scandinavia. Alabaster is also found, in smaller quantity, at
Watchet in
Somerset, near
Penarth in
Glamorganshire, and elsewhere. In
Cumbria it occurs largely in the New Red rocks, but at a lower geological horizon. The alabaster of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is found in thick nodular beds or "floors" in spheroidal masses known as "balls" or "bowls" and in smaller lenticular masses termed "cakes". At Chellaston, where the local alabaster is known as "Patrick", it has been worked into ornaments under the name of "Derbyshire spar"―a term more properly applied to
fluorspar. ,
Rijksmuseum Black alabaster Black alabaster is a rare anhydrite form of the gypsum-based mineral. The black form is found in only three veins in the world, one each in
United States,
Italy, and
China.
Alabaster Caverns State Park, near
Freedom, Oklahoma, is home to a natural gypsum cave in which much of the gypsum is in the form of alabaster. There are several types of alabaster found at the site, including pink, white, and the rare black alabaster.
Gallery Ancient and Classical Near East Ebih-Il Louvre AO17551 n01.jpg|
Statue of Ebih-Il,
Mari on the
Euphrates, made of gypsum alabaster (25th century BC) File:Statuette_Goddess_Louvre_AO20127.jpg|Necropolis of Hillah, near
Babylon. Alabaster, gold,
terracotta and rubies. Musée du Louvre Statue Ammaalay Louvre AO20282.jpg|Alabaster statue,
Yemen (1st century BC) File:Assyrian royal lion Hunt19.JPG|Assyrian relief;
King Ashurbanipal spears a lion European Middle Ages Norbury, Derbyshire - Nicholas Fitzherbert.jpg|Alabaster sepulchral monument of
Nicholas Fitzherbert, d. AD 1473, in
St Mary and St Barlock's Church, Norbury,
Derbyshire, England File:Fossanova Abbey fc02.jpg|Alabaster windows in the choir of
Fossanova Abbey church (12th century) in
Latina, Italy File:Casamari coro.jpg|Alabaster windows and rosette in the central apse of
Casamari Abbey church (1203–1217) in
Lazio, Italy File:Orvieto083.jpg|Alabaster window in
Orvieto Cathedral (14th century), Italy
Modern Archaizing Relief of a Seated King and Attendants, late 19th century.jpg|Archaizing Relief of a Seated King and Attendants,
Iran,
Qajar period (late 19th century CE, in the style of 5th–4th century BC).
Brooklyn Museum. Alabasterlampe Umgang Oktogon erleuchtet.jpg|Alabaster lamp,
Aachen Cathedral, Germany (early 20th century) alabaster-satin spar.jpg|Objet d'art with gypsum alabaster base, showing typical mottling (modern) ==See also==