1.1 White gypsum alabaster (Zhuravno, Ukraine) 19
1.2 White gypsum alabaster (Notre-Dame-de-Mésage, France), detail of a Pietà, early 16th c., Musée National de la Renaissance, Écouen 19
1.3 White gypsum alabaster with reddish colouring (Midlands, Great Britain) 19
1.4 Red gypsum alabaster (Lorraine, France) 21
1.5 Yellowish gypsum alabaster (Mamalyha, Ukraine) 21
1.6 Greyish gypsum alabaster (Hesse) 21
1.7 Black gypsum alabaster (Lorraine, France) 22
1.8 White gypsum alabaster with large crystal inclusions (Lorraine) 22
1.9 White gypsum alabaster with large crystal inclusions, detail of a Flight into Egypt relief by Monogrammist H.B., 1682, Museum in Kwidzyn, Poland 22
1.10 Staircase balustrade in the Museum of Ethnography and Crafts in Lviv, Ukraine, 1889–1891, design Julian Zachariewicz 23
1.11 Map of main regions of alabaster quarrying in Europe 24
1.12 Excavated alabaster nodules in the Fuentes de Ebro quarry, Spain 25
1.13 Alabaster nodules in a gypsum and marl bed in the Fuentes de Ebro quarry, Spain 25
1.14 Alabaster exploitation in the Marmolaio adit in Volterra, 1970s 26
1.15 Alabaster nodules collected as material supply in a workshop in Volterra 26
1.16 Polished cross-section of an alabaster nodule with marl husk 27
1.17 Column of white Egyptian alabaster, oratory of St Zeno, Basilica of St Praxedes, Rome 30
1.18 Egyptian alabaster (alabastro cotognino), Lower Nile Valley, collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’ Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena 31
1.19 Egyptian alabaster (alabastro fiorito) 31
1.20 Alabastro cinerino, collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena 31
1.21 Alabastro fiorito, Hierapolis, Turkey, collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena 32
1.22 Alabastro a tartaruga, Jano di Montaione, Tuscany, collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena 32
1.23 Alabastro a pecorella, Ain Tekbalet, Algeria, collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena 32
1.24 Pierre Le Gros, detail of the deathbed of St Stanislaus Kostka, 1703, Church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Rome 35
1.25 Pavement of the Horti Lamiani, 1st century bce, Musei Capitolini, Rome 36
1.26 Depiction of calcite alabaster in Ulisse Aldrovandi, Musaeum metallicum in libros IV …, Bologna 1648, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg 39
2.1 Frontispiece of Hortus Sanitatis, ed. Jakob Meydenbach, Mainz 1491 (2nd edition), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich 44
2.2 Depiction of Aristotle, Dioscorides, and Pliny in The noble lyfe & natures of man …, ed. by Laurence Andrew, Antwerp 1521, The Wellcome Library, London 44
2.3 Alabastron, 5th–4th century bce, The Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 49
2.4 Mosul marble, detail of a relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud, Assyrian Empire, 870 BCE, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich 53
2.5 Miniature depicting the formation of stones under the ground, Konrad von Megenberg, Buch der Natur, Heidelberg?, 1445/60, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 311 61
2.6 Drug jar for alabaster ointment (Unguentum Alabastrinum), Germany, 17th century, Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution 84
3.1 Henry Gaudier-Brzeska, Amour, 1913, Tate Modern, London 86
3.2 Minerva d’Orsey, Roman, 100–150 century ce, Musée du Louvre, Paris 91
3.3 Nicolas Cordier, African Man (the so-called Moro Borghese), 1607–1612, Musée du Louvre, Paris 92
3.4 Bust of Emperor Hadrian, Italy, 17th c., Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig 93
3.5 Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier, Portrait of a Man from Sudan, 1857, Musée d’Orsay, Paris 94
3.6 Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion, 1928–1929 96
3.7 Gisant of Doña María de Perea, Spain, ca. 1499, Victoria & Albert Museum, London 98
3.8 Jacob Epstein, Adam, 1938–1939, Harewood House. Reproduced by courtesy of the Earl and Countess of Harewood and Harewood House Trust 99
3.9 Eduardo Chillida, How Profound Is the Air, 1997, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 101
3.10 Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 1997, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, Toni and Martin Sosnoff, 2010 102
3.11 Rear side of a figure of St Onuphrius, ca. 1520, Museo de Zaragoza 103
3.12 Der Alabasterer, detail of an engraving in Christoph Weigel the Elder, Abbildung der gemein-nützlichen Haupt-Stände: …, Regensburg 1698, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden 104
3.13 Rear side of the Pietà from Großwenkheim, ca. 1430, deposit in Dommuseum, Würzburg 106
3.14 Traces of flat chisel (upper part) and point chisel (middle and lower part) work, detail of an angel figure from the epitaph-altarpiece of Bishop Kaspar von der Leyen, ca. 1676, Trier Cathedral 107
3.15 Traces of two-tooth chisel work, detail of an angel figure from the epitaph-altarpiece of Bishop Kaspar von der Leyen, ca. 1676, Trier Cathedral 107
3.16 Traces of work using roundels and various chisels, detail of the tomb of Bishop Johann Philipp von Waldersdorff, 1777, Trier Cathedral 108
3.17 Detail of the figure of the orant of Pedro I of Castile, ca. 1446–1460, Museo Archeológico Nacional, Madrid 108
3.18 Nikolaus Hagenauer (attr.), detail of St Barbara, ca. 1484–1486, Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg 108
3.19 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, detail of The Vexed Man, 1771–1783, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 110
3.20 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, detail of The Vexed Man, 1771–1783, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 110
3.21 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, detail of The Bearded Man, after 1777, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main 111
3.22 Michael Kern, Entombment, relief in the St Peter and Paul Altarpiece, ca. 1607–1614, St Nicolas Collegiate Church, Cloister Großcomburg, Schwäbisch Hall 112
3.23 Gil de Siloé, Detail of the tomb of the Prince Alfonso the Innocent (detail), 1489–1493, Miraflores Charterhouse 113
3.24 Gerhard Hendrik and workshop, detail of the relief The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel, epitaph of Caspar von Heseler, St Elizabeth’s Church, Wrocław 114
3.25 Openwork vase, Volterra, 19th c. 115
3.26 Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture with Profiles, 1932, Tate Gallery, London 116
3.27 Henry Moore, Half Figure, 1932, Los Angeles County Museum of Art: partial, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof, 2007 117
3.28 Lathe-turned plate, Saxony?, 16th/17th c., Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig 118
3.29 Der Alabasterer, detail of a copperplate engraving from: Christoph Weigel the Elder, Abbildung der gemein-nützlichen Haupt-Stände: …, Nürnberg 1698 120
3.30 Der Alabasterer in: Johann Amos Comenius, Orbis sensualium pictus, Nürnberg 1719, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna 121
3.31 a-e Alabastraio turning a small vase on a lathe, Atelier Rossi Alabastri, Volterra 122
3.32 Tremolierung, detail of the Crucifixion group by the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece, ca. 1430, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main 123
3.33 Gerhard Hendrik, epitaph of Caspar von Heseler, ca. 1589, St Elizabeth’s Church, Wrocław 126
3.34 Unknown Silesian (?) sculptor, The Virgin and Child (the so-called Hyacinth Madonna) from the Dominican Friary in Lviv, before 1401, Dominican Museum, Krakow 128
3.35 Barbara Hepworth, Merryn, 1962, National Museum of Women in Arts, Washington, D.C. Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay 129
3.36 Eduardo Chillida, Hommage à Kandinsky, 1965, Kunsthaus, Zürich 130
3.37 Alison Wilding, Harbour, 1994, Installation view, Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain 2013 130
3.38 Original Sin, detail of a relief in the epitaph of Caspar von Heseler, ca. 1589, St Elizabeth’s Church, Wrocław 131
3.39 Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Mechelen, ca. 1575–1600, Musée de l’Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose, Lessines 132
3.40 Detail of the polychromy on the Noli me tangere relief from the epitaph of Leonhard Oelhafen von Schellenbach in the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Wrocław, National Museum in Gdańsk 133
3.41 Anthonis van Seron, detail from the tomb of Prince Maurice of Saxony, 1555–1563, Cathedral of Freiberg, Saxony 134
3.42 Virgin and Child, Parisian workshop, ivory, ca. 1320/40, Musée du Louvre, Paris 136
3.43 Virgin and Child, Champagne, marble, ca. 1360, The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 137
3.44 Tilman Riemenschneider, Virgin from an Annunciation Group, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, ca. 1485 138
3.45 The Annunciation, Nottingham, ca. 1440, British Museum 139
3.46 St Dorothea Altar, ca. 1420–1440, St Mary’s Church, Gdańsk 140
3.47 Gisant of Elisabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, on her tomb in Derby cathedral, ca. 1608 140
3.48 Virgin of Hope figure from Ferreres, ca. 1400, Museu d’Art de Girona 141
3.49 Christ and the Doubting Thomas (detail), ca. 1360–1375, National Museum in Gdańsk 141
3.50 Albino Funaioli, Portrait of Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1866, private collection 143
3.51 Radio receiver case, Volterra, ca. 1935–1940, Raspi Collection, Volterra 143
3.52 John Skeaping, Woman and Bird, 1928, Leeds City Art Gallery 143
3.53 Barbara Hepworth, Mother and Child, 1934, Tate, London 144
3.54 Imitation of commessi di pietre dure, Viti manufactory, Volterra, 19th c., Palazzo Viti 145
3.55 Hans von Aachen, The Liberation of Andromeda, ca. 1600, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 148
3.56 Hans von Aachen, The Unleashing of the Winds by Aeolus und Aeneas, ca. 1600, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 148
3.57 Hans von Aachen, The Expulsion from Paradise, after 1600, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 150
3.58 The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, early 17th c., Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne 152
3.59 Tacita Dean, Hypnos/Thanatos I–V, 2003–2005, 5 drawings: drypoint on Agatha alabaster, (II–V destroyed) 153
3.60 Tacita Dean, Hypnos/Thanatos I, 2003, dry point on Agatha alabaster 154
3.61 Ettore Spalletti, Senza titolo, sotto sopra, 2000 155
4.1 Jacob Epstein, Jacob and the Angel, 1940–1941, Tate Gallery, London 156
4.2 Albaustus, miniature in the Detmold manuscript of Jacob van Maertlant’s Der Naturen Bloeme, Bruges ca. 1287, Detmold, Lippische Landesbibliothek 163
4.3 Dirk Bouts, Fragment of Christ in the House of Simon, ca. 1440 165
4.4 Portable altar of Sainte Foy, commissioned before 1100, treasury of the Benedictine abbey in Conques 171
4.5 Paten, Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 177
4.6 Detail of a paten (see fig. 4.5), Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 178
4.7 Paten, Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 178
4.8 Detail of a paten (see fig. 4.5), Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 179
4.9 Paten, Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 182
4.10 Panagiarion, Byzantium, 10th–11th c., Chilandar monastery, Mount Athos 183
4.11 Alabaster chalice with eucharistic inscription, Byzantium, 9th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 187
4.12 Sardonyx chalice (Chalice of the patriarchs), Byzantium, 9th–11th c., Treasury of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice 188
4.13 Giotto di Bondone, imitations of marbles in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, 1303–1307 190
4.14 Andrea der Castagno, Last supper, 1445–1450, S. Apollonia refectory in Florence 191
4.15 Andrea Mantegna, The Circumcision, 1460–1464, Uffizi Galleries, Florence 192
4.16 Marco Zoppo, The Dead Christ supported by St John the Baptist and St Jerome, ca. 1465, National Gallery, London 194
4.17 Christ as the Man of Sorrows, ca. 1400–1425, Lviv Art Gallery, Lviv 196
4.18 Henning von der Heyde, Mass of Saint Gregor scene in the retable of the Corpus Christi Fraternity in Lübeck, 1496, St. Annen-Museum, Lübeck 197
4.19 Unknown Southern Netherlandish or Northern French sculptor, head of St John the Baptist, ca. 1500–1560, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 201
4.20 Jan Mostaert, head of St. John the Baptist, 1526–1550, private collection 202
4.21 Head of St John the Baptist, England, 15th c., Victoria & Albert Museum, London 204
4.22 Ludwig Guttenbrunn, Portrait of Michał Jan Borch, ca. 1778, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 206
4.23 Alberto Tipa, Christ at the Column, ca. 1750–1783, private collection Palermo 207
4.24 The Dead Christ, Trapani, ca. 1750–1800, private collection Palermo 208
5.1 Conrat Meit, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca. 1525–1528, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich 212
5.2 Conrat Meit, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca. 1525–1528, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich 213
5.3 Titian, Portrait of Jacopo Strada, 1567–1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 216
5.4 Willem van Haecht, Detail of Kunstkabinett of Cornelis van der Geest, 1628, City of Antwerp Collection, Rubenshuis 217
5.5 Willem van den Broecke, Aphrodite and Eros, 1559, private collection 218
5.6 Tombstone of Sir William Gascoigne and Elisabeth Mowbray, workshop of Thomas Prentys in Chellaston, 1419, Harewood church 224
5.7 Emulator of Caspar Netscher, Portrait of an Unknown Lady as Saint Catherine, National Museum in Gdańsk 227
5.8 Cinerary urn with spouses on the lid, Etruscan, 510–500 bce, Louvre, Paris 231
5.9 Unknown Mechelen (?) workshop, Tactus, after 1595, sculpted alabaster with traces of gilding, h. 16.5 cm, London 233
5.10 Tactus, engraving by Jan Saenredam after Hendrick Goltzius, ca. 1595, Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery, Washington 233
5.11 Joachim von Sandrart, Jupiter and Leda, engraving included in the Galleria Giustiniana, 1631 234
5.12 Giuseppe Bessi, Beatrice, 1896, Antiquités Rodriguez Décoration, Saint-Ouen 237
5.13 Tomb of Maria and Lech Kaczyński, 2010, Wawel Cathedral, Krakow 238
5.14 Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 2015, Galleria Continua 239
5.15 Alabaster body cream, Banana Republic 241
5.16 Achieve Alabaster Skin with Rahn, Happi, 12.12.2016 241
5.17 Louise Bourgeois, Soft Landscapes, 1967, Kunstmuseum, Bern 242
5.18 Louise Bourgeois, Cunt I, 1970, private collection 243
6.1 Tomb from the Ptolemaic Period, known as the Tomb of Alexander, in the necropolis at Alexandria 247
6.2 Interior of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, ca. 425–450, Ravenna 250
6.3 Mosaics in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, ca. 425–450, Ravenna 251
6.4 Lunette with a mosaic representation of St Lawrence and an alabaster window, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, ca. 425–450, Ravenna 252
6.5 Interior of Orvieto cathedral, view looking east 254
6.6 Alabaster window in Orvieto Cathedral, 1325–1330 255
6.7 Alabaster window in Orvieto Cathedral, 1325–1330 256
6.8 Interior of Orvieto cathedral, view looking west 258
6.9 Jorge de Oteiza, Alabaster with Modules of Light, 1956, Museo Oteiza in Egüés 262
6.10 Eduardo Chillida, Mendi Huts/Empty Mountain II, 1990, Fundación Juan March, Palma 264
6.11 Cristina Iglesias, Untitled, 1993, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao 265
6.12 Cristina Iglesias, Untitled, 1994, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven 266
6.13 Tacita Dean, Presentation Sisters, 2005, film still 267
6.14 Tacita Dean, Presentation Windows, 2005, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 268
6.15 Jaume Plensa, Love Sounds, 1999, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover 268
6.16 Jaume Plensa, Love Sounds I–5, 1998, Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid 2025 270
6.17 Rafael Moneo, interior of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, 2002 271
7.1 Adam Lecuir and Julius von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Instrument Book, 1573, Niedersächsiches Landesarchiv 280
7.2 Elias Godefroy Dupré, Tomb of Landgrave Philip I and Christine of Saxony, 1567–1572, St Martin’s Church, Kassel 284
7.3 Friedrich Christian Heylmann, Gallery of the castle chapel in Kiel, 1816 286
7.4 Gerhard Hendrik (?), The Resurrection of the Dead, epitaph of Johann Crato von Krafftheim, after 1585, St Elizabeth’s Church, Wrocław 289
7.5 Giovanni Maria Nosseni, Figure of the artist in his own epitaph, ca. 1620, St Sophia’s Church, Dresden 291
7.6 Friedrich Gross the Elder, Detail of the pulpit, 1579, St Elizabeth’s Church, Wrocław 292
7.7 Gerhard Hendrik, Monument to Melchior von Redern in Friedland (Frýdlant), 1605–1610 293
7.8 Adam Lecuir, ‘Braunschweig’ portal, Bremen City Hall, 1578 298
7.9 Adam Lecuir, Detail of the ‘Braunschweig’ portal, Bremen City Hall, 1578 299