We think of stone as something fixed and immovable, but that’s just a matter of the timeline you see things with. My new book, Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones, contains 60 stories, each about a different stone. Here are 10 unforgettable rocks that roll through the pages of… Ruby Photo: © National Museums NI Ulster Museum Collection Golden Salamander (mid 16th century), Ulster Museum In 1967 underwater archaeologist Robert Sténuit led an expedition into the icy waters near Lacada Point, off the northern Irish coast, recovering artifacts from the wreck of the Girona, a galleon that went down in 1588. Sténuit’s team found gold, coins and weapons – but also a large amount of jewelry. Girona was part of the Spanish Armada and if the invasion had gone according to plan, precious stones would have shone from the robes of the conquerors as they sailed to London in triumph. This ruby locket was once an emblem of Spain’s power and reach. The salamander design is inspired by the axolotl – an amphibious creature worshiped by the Aztecs – while the rubies come from Burma. Rubies were believed to glow with inner light, and salamanders live in fire: an auspicious pairing for an amulet worn in battle. Basalt Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970), Utah In 1970, a contact at the Utah Parks Department told artist Robert Smithson that north of the Lucin Cutoff, the water in the Great Salt Lake had turned the color of tomato soup. For an artist whose material was the landscape itself, this was an irresistible lure. With his wife, the artist Nancy Holt, he flew to Utah and drove around the lake to select a site for a work composed of land, water and sky. Spiral Jetty was envisioned as a vortex, a maelstrom, a galaxy and a spiral of geologic time twisting out of sight. The project is almost half a kilometer long, made of 6,650 tons of local black basalt. Over the years it has disappeared and reappeared as the water level fluctuates: part of the lake’s ecology, this rough, rocky structure is now clad in a shell of salt crystals. Calculations Photo: Panther Media GmbH/Alamy We think of stone as inert, set apart from the animal kingdom, but it can also form quickly – just look inside your kettle. Stone stones are also formed inside the body: stones in the gall bladder, nephroliths in the kidneys, cystoliths in the bladder, enteroliths in the gastrointestinal tract, nasal stones in the nasal passages, etc. These calculations were collected by the eminent British crystallographer, prison reformer and peace campaigner Kathleen Lonsdale. In 1962, the Salvation Army approached Lonsdale for help analyzing bladder stones removed from children in India. Lonsdale’s ground-breaking study, published in the journal Science in 1971, opens with the revelation that “the largest human stone on record weighed over 1.36 kilograms”. Lingbi Photo: Artokoloro/Alamy Gongshi, lingbi limestone, date unknown For collectors, the most valuable of China’s dramatic rocks is the gongshi – known in English as “scholar’s rock” or “spirit stone” and in Japanese as suiseki – an object of evocative, dynamic form used as a focus of contemplation. Mounted on carved wooden bases that hold them firmly in their most seductive position, the gongxi can be as small as a thumb or as tall as a teenager. Historically, the most prized gonshi are Lingbishi (Lingbi stones): tortured, twisted fragments of fine-grained limestone from Lingbi County in northern Anhui Province. emerald Photo: Andy Rain/EPA Emerald and diamond brooch (circa 1910) once owned by the Maharani of Kapurthala The maharani of Kapurthala’s favorite jewel was a crescent emerald which she spotted on her husband’s oldest elephant. Portraits of this legendary beauty show her wearing the huge stone just like the elephant had, on her forehead. Born Anita Delgado Briones, Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala fell in love with the Spanish dancer at first sight (according to fairy tale convention) when he saw her perform at the Gran Kursal cabaret in Madrid. After accepting Jagatjit Singh’s proposal, Anita underwent the full Pygmalion treatment, learning skating, horse riding, tennis, billiards and the piano. She acquired several languages and was rigorously trained in etiquette before her marriage. The coveted crescent-shaped emerald was presented to her on her 19th birthday as a reward for learning Urdu. Ancaster pink Photo: Bowness Barbara Hepworth, Mother and Child (1934), Hepworth Wakefield For Barbara Hepworth, stone was not an inert substance: it responded dynamically to the material itself, its particularities and associations. Mother and Child is carved in Ancaster pink, a solid oolitic limestone from Lincolnshire used primarily as a building material: a practical British stone. Mother and child are divided into two parts: the “mother” is rounded like an old mountain, with a valley forming her lap. In it stands the small figure of the “child,” independent but narrow, leaning toward her. Hepworth offered a new interpretation of an ancient theme – one for an era of progressive relationships and Freudian psychoanalysis – two people, cut from one stone, but ultimately separate. Opal Photo: Stuart Humphreys, Australian Museum ‘Eric’, fossilized pliosaur skeleton excavated at Coober Pedy, Australian Museum, Sydney Since the 19th century, Australia has been the world’s main source of opals. Most precious are the black opals from Lightning Ridge, their shadowy depths shooting with iridescent fire the color of malachite and lapis lazuli. Mined since 1915, Coober Pedy remains the largest source of opals by volume, but the market is changing. In 2008, Ethiopia emerged as a new source for opals of exceptional clarity and play. Opals are composed of spheres of silica eroded from sandstone, carried down by water through faults and fissures until they reach an impermeable layer where they pool and lithify. Sometimes the fissures into which the silica-rich water intrudes are those formed by the remains of plants or animals, which slowly turn into iridescent fossils. In 1987, a miner in Coober Pedy found the fully fossilized remains of a pliosaur, named Eric. Jade Photo: Sipa US/Alamy Dou Wan Burial Complex, Han Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum of Art Jade is the jade of ancient China – a stone more precious than gold, the durability of which served as a material connection to one’s ancestors and signified the indomitability and endurance of personal heritage. The practice of carrying jade into the afterlife developed in the Han period (202 BC–220 AD). The first members of the Liu family, their wives, and the high-ranking elite were buried in full suits of jade, made of interlocking stone slabs. Before the body was placed in the tomb, its nine orifices were first sealed with jade plugs. Jade was thought to promote longevity and thus protect the body from wear and tear. Quartz Photo: Jim McCrary/Redferns Gram Parsons in his custom “Nudie Suit” (1969) In 1913 a child named Nuta Kotlyarenko fled Kyiv and his name was misrepresented by US immigration. By the 1930s, he was making G-string leotards and nipple pasties for New York burlesque performers. The next decade, as Nudie Cohn, he moved to Hollywood and took his rhinestones with him. Faceted synthetic crystals were a phenomenon in the late 19th century, and on stage, under electric lights, they were mesmerizing. Nudie’s Rodeo Taylors created a dazzling peacoat style for men that since the 1970s made the term ‘cowboy strass’ synonymous with music stardom. In 1969 Rolling Stone pictured Gram Parsons in his white nude suit, with the front and sides rhinestoned from hemp leaves, opium poppies and barbiturates that would seduce him four years later. Turquoise Photo: Peter Horree/Alamy Serpent Mask of Tlāloc (c. 1400-1521) British Museum The storm god Tlāloc is a blue-faced deity associated with fertility and water. Mounted on a wooden base, two different shades of turquoise outline a pair of snakes forming the face of the god, crossing each other at the nose and ringing the eye sockets. The Aztecs valued turquoise as much as the Spanish valued their gold. In Náhuatl the word for blue stone is xihuitl and it was synonymous with the quality of preciousness, used admiringly as one might use “gold” in English – a turquoise child, turquoise words. According to the Codex Mendoza, three provinces in Aztec territory had to pay tribute to the emperor with turquoise: the beads and mosaic tiles were equivalent to a form of currency. Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah is published by John Murray (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
