Alabaster

Alabaster – is the name applied to two distinct varieties of minerals – gypsum and calcite (also known as onyx-marble or Oriental or Egyptian alabaster). The type used in Egypt and the Near and Middle East is usually the calcite variety, whilst that used in medieval Europe was usually gypsum.

Widely used for religious and ecclesiastical objects, Oriental alabaster was used for making small perfume bottles and ointment jars (one such is mentioned in the New Testament as holding the ointment used by Mary to anoint Jesus’s feet). It has also been used for sarcophagi and other sepulchral objects.

Gypsum alabaster has been used extensively for sculpture and vessels which could be honed with fine detail without needing iron or steel tools. Thousands of gypsum artefacts have been found dating back to the late 4th millennium BC in Egypt and the Middle East.

Alabaster is also translucent enough (when cut into thin sheets) to be used for small windows, and it was used for this purpose in medieval churches, particularly in Italy, and Florence retains the distinction of still being the centre of the alabaster trade today.

The Midlands (Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire) all have extensive deposits of gypsum and this led to a valuable local industry springing up in Nottingham for small statues and relief panels in the 14th and 15th centuries. Being easier and cheaper to use than marble, it became a major English export.

It’s softness means it can be easily carved into elaborate forms, but due to its’ solubility in water, it’s not much use for outdoor work.