gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A multilingual natural-history dictionary compiled by Philipp Andreas Nemnich, designed to correlate the names of natural substances across numerous European and other languages. The work covers animals, plants and minerals, giving equivalent vernacular terms and variant names rather than serving primarily as a descriptive natural-history treatise. For gemological research, it is particularly useful for tracing historical names of gemstones, minerals and ornamental stones across different languages and identifying synonyms that appear in older scientific, commercial and lapidary literature. The Allgemeines Polyglotten-Lexicon der Naturgeschichte is therefore an important bibliographical and terminological aid for studying eighteenth-century mineral and gemstone nomenclature.

corundum, quality.10, crown jewels, France, gems

An official inventory of the French Crown’s diamonds, pearls, jewels, engraved stones, paintings and other objects preserved in the Garde-Meuble during the early years of the French Revolution. Compiled for the National Assembly by Jean-Marie Bion, Charles-Gabriel-Frédéric Christin and François-Pierre Delattre, the volume records the contents and valuations of the royal collections at a moment when Crown property was being documented as national property. Of particular gemological and jewelry-historical importance are the detailed listings of diamonds, pearls, mounted jewels and engraved gems, making the work a major primary source for the composition and value of the French Crown Jewels immediately before the famous theft from the Garde-Meuble in 1792.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, Natural history, Switzerland, Europe, Broken Bangle

A substantial essay on the classification of minerals, written by Albrecht Höpfner in the form of a letter to the mineralogist Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten. Using the eighteenth-century term “fossils” for substances dug from the earth, Höpfner discusses principles for arranging and distinguishing mineral species and engages with contemporary systems of mineral classification. The paper is useful for understanding the transition from older descriptive schemes toward more systematic mineralogy based on observable properties and chemical composition. For gemological history, it provides context for how precious stones and related mineral substances were being incorporated into broader mineralogical classification at the end of the eighteenth century.

gems, jade, ruby, sapphire, spinel, Burma, Myanmar, Chinese trade with Burma

A local gazetteer of Yongchang Prefecture (永昌府), in western Yunnan, an important region on the routes connecting China with Burma and Southeast Asia. The work records the prefecture’s administrative geography, history, settlements, mountains and rivers, population, customs, products and other local information. Of particular gemological interest are its notices concerning jade and other valuable materials associated with the Yunnan–Burma trade, for which Yongchang was an important commercial and administrative center. The gazetteer is consequently a useful Qing-period source for studying the movement of Burmese jade and other commodities into southwestern China. Sun Laichen: Volumes 23, 25, and 26 of the 1785 edition by Xuan Shitao contain several memorials from Ming and Qing times that touch upon Ming- and Qing-Burmese relations, a number of poems and records by Ming poets regarding Burmese precious stones and other products, and a short account of a Burmese letter to the Ming during the late 16th century. Volumes 65 and 66 of the 1884 edition by Liu Yuke includes several other poems on Ming- and Qing-Burmese relations. There are altogether four editions of this work, and I have so far gained access to only the two mentioned above. The other two were compiled in 1702 and 1826, respectively.

corundum, history.1, gems, Arabic mineralogy, jade, Fischer, early lapidaries

A Latin scholarly edition presenting a description of, and selected extracts from, the Arabic gemstone treatise of Aḥmad al-Tīfāshī (Teifaschi), the thirteenth-century author of one of the most important medieval works on precious stones. The volume introduces al-Tīfāshī’s text to European readers and reproduces passages dealing with individual gems and precious materials, their names, properties, sources, qualities and uses. It is of particular importance to the history of gemology as an early printed European engagement with the Arabic lapidary tradition and as a conduit through which medieval Islamic knowledge of gemstones entered eighteenth-century Orientalist scholarship.

gems, early lapidaries, early gemology, early mineralogy, Orpheus, Peri Lithon, De Lapidibus

Sinkankas: Text in Greek and Latin. Recto: Περί Λίθων or De lapidibus appears on f.65–30 verso. According to Thorndike (ibid., p. 294), “the Lithica, representing Hermes, opens by bestowing upon mankind the precious lore of the marvelous virtues of gems… After this introduction… the virtues of the individual stones are described, first in the words of Theodamas, a wise and divine man whom the author meets on his way to perform annual sacrifice at an altar of the Sun… The virtues of a number of gems are attributed to Apollo rather than Hermes; and there are allusions to Greek mythology and the Trojan War. Some gems are found in animals, for instance, in the viper or the brain of the stag.” Thorndike then examines some of the stones and the magical powers attributed to them (pp. 294–297). He also notes Abel’s reproduction of the Greek text (see below), and the translation by C. W. King in The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones and of Precious Metals, 1865, which he considers to be “a rather too free English verse translation.” See also Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences, pp. 28–32; British Museum, Italian Books, p. 457; Brunet 3:1957; Dibdin, Greek and Latin Classics, 2:239; STC, Class. See also the comments of F. D. Thomas Tyrwhitt was of the opinion that the original manuscript was composed before Constantine (306 AD) and not long after 364 AD.

gems, jade, Mesoamerican jade, Guatemala jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mayan jade, Mexico, Moctezuma, Fischer-Book

A history of ancient Mexico by the Jesuit scholar Francisco Saverio Clavigero (Francisco Javier Clavijero), written during his exile in Italy and based on Indigenous traditions, manuscripts and earlier Spanish accounts. The work describes the geography and natural history of Mexico, its peoples, government, religion, calendar, arts, agriculture, commerce and material culture before and during the Spanish conquest. Of gemological interest are Clavigero’s descriptions of Mexican stones and minerals and the use of valuable greenstones for ornaments and other objects. The work is particularly valuable for its systematic treatment of pre-Hispanic Mexican civilization and for Clavigero’s efforts to correct what he considered errors and prejudices in earlier European accounts.

gems, lapidary arts, gem cutting

A descriptive catalogue of machines, instruments and models held in the repository of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (later the Royal Society of Arts), compiled by William Bailey. The work illustrates and explains mechanical inventions and improved manufacturing processes submitted to or recognized by the Society, covering a broad range of trades and practical arts. Of particular interest to gemology and jewelry history are descriptions and engravings of equipment associated with lapidary and related crafts, including machinery for cutting and polishing hard materials. The work provides valuable documentation of the mechanization and technological development of British crafts and manufacturing during the later eighteenth century.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, Fischer-Chinese, gems, Chinese jade carving, jadeite, fei cui, nephrite, archaic jade, hetian yu

An account of the geography, peoples, customs and conditions of China’s Western Regions (Xinjiang) by Qishiyi (七十一), style name Chunyuan (椿園), a Qing official who had served in the region. Xiyu Wenjian Lu [西域聞見錄; Record of Things Seen and Heard in the Western Regions] describes places and routes, local populations, customs, agriculture, products and natural resources in areas including Hami, Turfan, the Ili region and southern Xinjiang. Of particular gemological importance are its notices concerning Khotan (Hetian) jade, including information on jade-producing localities and the acquisition of jade from the rivers of the region. The work is a valuable Qing-period source for the geography and material culture of Xinjiang following its incorporation into the Qing Empire in the eighteenth century.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Du Halde’s Mémoires concernant les Chinois is a multi-volume compilation devoted to Chinese history, government, philosophy, religion, literature, science, arts, customs, and natural history, drawing substantially upon reports and translations produced by Jesuit missionaries in China. The series preserves extensive European observations on Chinese culture and material knowledge during the Qing dynasty and includes discussions relevant to mineralogy and gemology, particularly Chinese traditions concerning jade and other stones, their terminology, properties, sources, working, and cultural significance. As a major conduit through which detailed information about China reached European readers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the collection is valuable for tracing the transmission and interpretation of Chinese knowledge of jade and other mineral substances in Western literature.