corundum, beryl, emerald, inclusions, synthetic beryl, emerald, gems

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

Sinkankas: Ch. 8, p. 283–311, on “Jade and other semiprecious stones,” with illustrations for the same being in the plates volume, Pls. 235–58 (not seen). Most of this text treats jade, its nature, types, and artistic significance, then describes the many objects depicted according to their artistic merits. Other gemstones are rock crystal, turquoise, obsidian, serpentine, amber, calcite onyx, and cryptocrystalline quartz varieties.

geology, gems

corundum, synthetic corundum.7, Verneuil, Linde, gems

gems, history of gemology, Roman, Rome, Greek, Greece, history of mineralogy, history of science, Arabic mineralogy

Rackham’s Loeb Classical Library edition presents Books 3–7 of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History in parallel Latin and English texts. These books comprise Pliny’s geographical and ethnographical survey of the known world: Books 3–6 describe Europe, Africa, and Asia, including the Mediterranean lands, the Near East, India, and regions beyond, while Book 7 turns to humanity, discussing human characteristics, unusual peoples, remarkable births, longevity, exceptional physical and intellectual abilities, inventions, and other notable features of human life. Pliny draws extensively upon earlier Greek and Roman authorities, travelers, administrators, and geographical writings, preserving a large body of ancient geographical and ethnographic information, often intermingled with reports of marvels and fabulous peoples. For the history of gems and precious materials, these books provide geographical context for the regions from which luxury goods and mineral products reached the Roman world, although Pliny’s systematic treatment of stones and gemstones occurs later in Book 37.

gemology, asterism, phenomena, gems

corundum, inclusions.5, Burma.12, Sri Lanka.12, Thailand.12, gems

gems, early lapidaries, early gemology, early mineralogy, Chaucer, history of gemology, nomenclature, lore, medicinal use

To the long-established list of analogues to Chaucer’s House of Fame, I propose still another: the apocalyptic vision of St. John in the New Testament. Though largely lacking in direct verbal similarities, the Revelation of St. John presents numerous compelling parallels that cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. The sparse details from Ovid, Vergil, and Boethius are acknowledged to fall short of accounting for the grandeur of Chaucer’s portrayal of Lady Fame in Book III. Rambeau’s argument that Chaucer modeled his goddess on the Virgin Mary as depicted in Dante’s heaven is unconvincing, given how scattered and dissimilar the cited resemblances are. Cummings has thoroughly refuted the identifications by Koeppel and Child of Chaucer’s Fame with the Gloria del popolo mondano in Boccaccio’s Amorosa Visione. Evidence from the poem itself supports the view that Chaucer had the vision of St. John in mind when composing the palace of Fame. In describing the enthroned goddess, Chaucer draws on Vergil’s image of the many-eyed deity (Aeneid IV, 180–183), a detail that recalls the Revelation’s account (IV.6) of the four beasts “full of eyes before and behind,” which Chaucer explicitly references: “the bestes foure / That Goddes trone gunne honoure / As John writ in th’ Apocalips” (House of Fame, 1384–85).

gemology, asterism, phenomena, gems

gemology, physical properties, gems