What is this white monumental carved stone?

June 19, 2011 5:07 PM

What is this fine white carved stone used in gravestones?

I'm in Reykjavik, Iceland. The graveyard here has some beautiful 80ish year old gravestones with inset medallions of carved white stone (example photo). What is this stone? The effect is of ivory, but clearly ivory wouldn't last this well outside. It's not marble: too opaque and finely carved. It's pourous (moss grows on it) but also dense and pretty robust.

posted by Nelson to Grab Bag (15 answers total)

Alabaster?
posted by jrochest at 5:13 PM on June 19, 2011

Porcelain? It looks like a cast part cemented into the main stone, not an original carving. (such a carving would be very expensive)
posted by jon1270 at 5:18 PM on June 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Possibly Parian Ware (which is porcelain). Some medallions.
posted by notquitemaryann at 5:31 PM on June 19, 2011

Looks like the forerunner of modern porcelain medallions that usually have photos on them, rather than being cast reliefs.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:32 PM on June 19, 2011

Are you talking about the inset carved piece, or the rest of the gravestone? They appear to be two different substances, or at least two different grades. And I wouldn't rule out marble, it can be carved quite finely. Alabaster is significantly less durable than marble.
posted by Gneisskate at 5:32 PM on June 19, 2011

Looks like alabaster.
posted by R. Mutt at 5:45 PM on June 19, 2011

Alabaster is water-soluble and doesn't last long outside. The carving in the photograph doesn't show the kind of weathering that 80-year-old alabaster should exhibit. I vote for porcelain.
posted by Nomyte at 5:48 PM on June 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Looks like carved slate.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:14 PM on June 19, 2011

It looks like white stoneware to me - a type of porcelain.
posted by gemmy at 6:32 PM on June 19, 2011

Best answer: I vote for porcelain or some kind of ceramic, maybe glazed. Look at the crack under the star just to the right of the top star (at 1 o'clock): the break is shell-shaped, just like how glass fractures. Porcelain and glazed ceramic are glassy materials. In contrast, marble is a crystalline mineral and cracks show little crystals on the broken face.
posted by Quietgal at 7:22 PM on June 19, 2011

Check out the work of Italian potter Francesco della Robbia. He works in a tondo style like this example that is called maiolica in Italian. You will see lots of colored examples of this style.
posted by effluvia at 7:48 PM on June 19, 2011

Could it be steatite (soapstone) or perhaps pyrophyllite?

Soapstone is found in quantity in Iceland and there is a long tradition of using it for carving and casting.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:03 PM on June 19, 2011

Apologies, that artist should be Lucca della Robbia. A large artisan family.
posted by effluvia at 8:03 PM on June 19, 2011

I would suspect porcelain, partly because of how it looks, but also see the last paragraph on this page here.
posted by gudrun at 11:16 PM on June 19, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers! I think porcelain or some other related cast and fired product is most likely. The material doesn't have the luster I associate with alabaster, and as jon1270 says custom carvings would be very expensive. But imported, cast generic angel figures makes perfect sense.
posted by Nelson at 2:05 AM on June 20, 2011