chrysoprase

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The largest piece of carved chrysoprase from antiquity is at the University of Pennsylvania ( the Maxwell-Summerville collection of engraved gems). Dating from the second century, the head of Jupiter with oak leaves and aegis (shield), is carved from a single piece of 5" x 6" chrysoprase. Well-known in antiquity, both the Greeks and Romans used chrysoprase as a decorative stone, making cabochons, cameos, and carved intaglio (relief carving) items from it. Most gemologists and historians believe the yellowish-green "prase" of antiquity was probably not the same stone as the apple-green chrysoprase of today. When Alexander led an expedition to the Oasis of Siwah in order to visit the famous oracular shrine of Zeus Ammon in the winter of 331 BC, the march was said to have been assisted by "two talking snakes" who showed the way through the sandy wastes." In Macedonian culture, the snake was one of the primary images of the "vitality and continuity of life, the guarantor of life energy in the home, and the symbol of family and animal life."	the victory stone According to Albertus Magnus (1206-1280), scientist, philosopher, and theologian -- and one of the most widely read and most learned man of his time -- it was during the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) that some began calling chrysoprase the "victory stone." alexander's ace As the story goes, Alexander the Great's amazing eleven-year winning streak was said to have been due to the fact that he always wore a "prase" stone on his belt or "girdle." But, one day as Alexander was walking near a river, a snake surprised him, "biting the stone off the girdle and dropping it in the river." Supposedly, from that time forward, Alexander never won another battle, an anomoly in the short but brilliant career of this extraordinary soldier who died at the age of thirty-three. photo: agathos daimon Could the snake's action have signaled to Alexander that his days were numbered? Snakes, especially as symbols, figure highly in Alexander's life. Olympias, Alexander's mother, who worshiped snakes, dreamt that Alexander was conceived when Zeus-Ammon entered her, in the form of a snake (conveniently making him a god). She was also said to be a devotee of snake-handling and to sleep with snakes -- actions which apparently creeped out her husband, King Philip, giving him a good cause for divorce. Alexander was also a devotee of Agathos Daimon (Greek for "good divinity"), the god of fortune, a "winged serpent" who hovered over one invisibly, acting as a "guardian angel." According to Pseudo-Callisthenes (ca. 360-328 BC), when Alexander examined the site of the future Alexandria (Egypt), a great snake appeared...and Alexander set up a her�a (hero shrine) to "Agathos Daimon."
In some New Testament translations, chrysoprase is noted as the tenth precious stone in the foundation of the New Jerusalem. According to an 11th century manuscript of Michael Psellus (1018-1078) Byzantine statesman, scholar and author, chrysoprase "strengthened vision and relieved internal pain." The tenth child of a noble family, Hildegard was given by her parents to an anchoress named Jutta who lived in cloistered room adjacent to the church of the Benedictine monastery at Disibodenberg, when she was seven or eight years old. This was not uncommon for the time, especially for a younger child of a large family. Maintaining that her knowledge came not from books, Hildegard ascribed it to "an inner knowledge which is simple and intuited." Hildegarde's mentor, confidant, recorder of visions and dear friend, the monk, Volmar (d. 1173), noted in his treatise Steinbuch ("the Stone Book"), that a thief, sentenced to death, could escape his executioners immediately if he put a piece of chrysoprase in his mouth.	bewitched, bothered and bewildered hildegard with volmar, receiving divine inspiration Nearing her forty-third birthday, Hildegarde von Bingen (1098-1179) -- a twelfth century abbess, prophetess, poet, healer, mystic, theologian and musician -- began experiencing visions. But, overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy (much of which was based on her rudimentary but typical-for-the-time education), she found herself without the confidence to act -- until it literally made her sick. "...although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of God, I fell onto a bed of sickness." Finding her courage, she began writing treatises about natural history and the medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. Recommending chrysoprase as a remedy for gout, she also advocated its use for calming anger (as well as "keeping one from speaking thoughtlessly in anger") and for bewitchments. against bewitchments "If someone is possessed by the devil, spread a bit of water on a chrysoprase and say: "Water, I sprinkle you on this stone with the power by which God has made the sun as well as the wandering moon. "Then you give the possessed this water to drink, as you can, since he will only drink it if forced to. And all day the devil will struggle in him and will weaken; he will no longer show his strength in him as he did before. "You will do this for five days. On the fifth day, using this water, prepare a kind of bread that you will give him to eat, as you can. And, if it is not a persistent demon, it will leave this man."
A great example of chrysoprase's decorative use is the Chapel of St. Wenceslas (pronounced "Ven'-tse-slas") in Prague, constructed in the 1400's and built completely inside the St. Vitus Cathedral. With walls of large paintings, interspersed with stones of carnelian, amethyst, chalcedony and Silesian chrysoprase, the Chapel is considered one of the most important monuments of Czech art. Hus, who became a professor of theology in 1398 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1400, did not dispute theological issues but rather church abuses. The Thirty Years War consisted of a series of declared and undeclared wars which raged throughout central Europe. International in scope, it included all the major powers of the day. But, coming on the heels of the Protestant Reformation, more than anything it was a religious war among Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists, fought over whether the peoples of the area would be dominated by Catholic or Protestant sovereignty. The First and Second Silesian Wars, also known as the War of the Austrian Succession, came to a close with the Treaty of Dresden in 1745. What Maria Theresa � mother of the ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) -- got in return for ceding Silesia to Frederick, her primary foe during her forty-year reign, was Frederick's promise to support the imperial candidacy of her husband (shortly afterward elected as Francis I). The last great 'vogue' for chrysoprase was between 1740, when it was "rediscovered," and 1830, when European supplies were once again exhausted.	hussites and habsburgs chrysoprase; frankenstein, silesia, germany Much of chrysoprase's history prior to the twentieth century centers around Eastern Europe -- specifically the area around Frankenstein (Zabkowice) in Upper Silesia, now an industrialized region of Poland. A region blessed with the largest known chrysoprase deposits on earth at the time, the area which had long-standing ties to Prussia, Bohemia, and Austria's Habsburg dynasty was mined extensively from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries. During the Hussite Wars of the fifteenth century (1414-1434), fought over Catholic vs. Protestant control of the area, Silesia along with Moravia, was temporarily detached from the Bohemian crown and briefly ruled by Hungary. In 1490, however, both Silesia and Moravia reverted to Bohemia, passing back to the house of Hapsburg in 1526. hussite heresy Followers of Jan Hus (1369-1415), a southern Bohemian religious reformer burned at the stake by the Catholic church, Hussite demands anticipated many of the reforms that would eventually take place as a result of the Protestant Reformation. The execution of Hus infuriated his many followers. Shortly after his death, 452 of the Czech nobility signed a protest before the Council of Constance, approving the doctrines of Hus and pledging themselves to protect the free preaching of God�s Word on their estates -- a set of events that ultimately led to civil war. Although unsuccessful in the short-term, Hussites are noted for taking the first substantial stand against the two biggest evils of medieval society, feudalism and the Roman Catholic Church. gold, enamel, diamonds, & chrysoprase; faberge, 1900 photo: darmstadt museum Unfortunately for the Silesians, the next war, known as the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) brought even more misery as they struggled under successive Saxon, Imperial (Habsburg), and Swedish occupations. Finally, after thirty years of continuing devastation, Silesia was ceded back to Austrian control at the Peace of Westphalia (1648). In yet another set of conflicts, the First Silesian War (1740-1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744-1745) fought between Frederick the Great of Prussia (r. 1740-1786) and Maria Theresa of Austria (r. 1740-1780), the losing Habsburg Empress was forced to cede nearly all of Silesia -- including Silesia's chrysoprase mines -- to a gleeful Prussia and even more gleeful Frederick.
Frederick the Great also had an oval green chrysoprase snuff box mounted in gold and encrusted with scrolls and flowers in diamonds on the lid, sides and base. So enthusiastic was Frederick's patronage of chrysoprase, that for some years his interest alone notably increased the prestige (and price) of the stone. *Sans Souci* , the name of Frederick's remarkable and beloved Potsdam palace means "without care." During the eighteenth century, when snuffboxes were the rage, Frederick is known to have owned at least eight made of chrysoprase and he would have given away many more as gifts, all of them embellished with gold, diamonds, and other precious gems. Caveat emptor : When supplies of chrysoprase became scarce after 1830, some dealers compensated by staining colorless quartz green (using nickel salts or chromium salts as greening agents). Fakes still appear from time to time.	the patron of potsdam silesia in the midst of poland, hungary, austria, & prussia; ca. 1740 Although some Silesian mines were already exhausted by the fifteenth century, newly discovered deposits in the 1740's in the same general area ensured chrysoprase's ongoing popularity in the fulfillment of opulent royal commissions. A great patron of the arts, Frederick loved the stone so much -- perhaps in part because it was mined in territory captured by him -- that he adorned his opulent palace at Potsdam with objects and furniture made in whole or part of Silesian chrysoprase. According to a February 1992 issue of Lapidary Journal by Si and Ann Frazier, Frederick preferred the bright green color of chrysoprase over any other gem: "His favorite ring was ... set with a large chrysoprase surrounded by 15 brilliants (presumably diamonds). Reportedly, Frederick never took this [ring] off. He also carried a walking stick ... with a knob of chrysoprase." frederick the great of prussia Reportedly, among the objects d'art commissioned by him for Sans Souci were two all-chrysoprase tables. Craig White, CEO of Chrysoprase Mines of Australia, reports that in his long and extensive research on the subject he has found only one citation regarding the tables. In a reference dating back to ca. 1838, a Dr. L. Feuchtwanger describes two tables in Sans Souci as "being made from plates of chrysoprase two feet wide, three feet long and two inches thick." They must have been magnificant.
The unique green hue of chrysoprase reportedly made it a favorite of Queen Anne of England (r. 1702-1714), the last of the Stuarts. The great jewelry designer, Peter Carl Faberg�, used chrysoprase in some of his works for the Russian Royal family as well as other clients. A strong color resemblance between chrysoprase and jadeite helps explain why Chinese gem dealers, the world�s main suppliers of fine jade, are also the largest buyers of Queensland chrysoprase, stockpiling it mainly in Hong Kong and Thailand. After Chinese overseas dealers, California is the second largest stockpiler of chrysoprase.	awesome aussie color During the eighteenth century, when public hangings were still a relatively frequent occurrence, chrysoprase gained the dubious reputation of having the power to bestow invisibility. Supposedly, if a thief put a piece of chrysoprase in his or her mouth when about to be hanged, the 'hangee' became invisible, chrysoprase thereby becoming an accomplice to escape. One only hopes that the length of time wrongdoers were disappointed was mercifully short... chrysoprase & cloisonne photo: fine artistry Still a popular stone in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century, chrysoprase brooches and rings were often set with small brilliants around the apple-green stone, imparting a bit of joie de vivre. It was during the reign of England's Hanoverian King George IV (r. 1820-1830) that European supplies of chrysoprase were once again exhausted as Silesia's mines dried up, making the stone rare and expensive. Little by little, the stone faded from the public's mind, in the end, remembered only by collectors. Lucky for consumers, the discovery of a deeper-toned, more intense-color chrysoprase in Queensland in 1965, considered superior to its European counterpart, means that high quality chrysoprase is once again available.