Magic Rock Crystal

Description

Rock crystal as material, mineral, symbol, and ornament.  
Harder than glass, but softer than diamonds, rock crystal has sparked countless legends concerning its origins and strengths. For a long time, people assumed that this variety of quartz was water that had been solidified to form eternal ice. Since antiquity, rock crystal has been used as a remedy, for fortune-telling, in churches, and at courtly banquets. Artisans used it to create objects with a divine aura. This book assembles breathtaking artworks from antiquity to the Middle Ages, including vessels, crosses, chess pieces, amulets, and magnifying glasses. Contributors draw on a range of fields—art, mineralogy, archaeology, philology, and optics—to explore rock crystal’s many angles. Manuela Beer is the deputy director at the Museum Schnütgen in Cologne.

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