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| Re: Soapstone Sculpture! What do you think? Please help! |
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Posted By: Judy Posted Date: Feb 02, 2007 (01:26 PM) |
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Message Andrea, It is very difficult to date soapstone carvings. They became popular at the end of the 19th century in the West, and joined such items as 'Rose Medallion' highly enameled porcelain as cheap export and tourist wares, especially in the 1920s. It could be 5, 50 or 80 years old. The mottled coloring of yours is typical of this mineral. It has nothing to do with the color of mutton-fat jade (nephrite). You can tell by the break at the top of yours that this fairly soft stone is not very durable. It is readily carved, widely available and found in many decorative items such as small vases, as well as somewhat more useful items. I used to have a brush washer in an archaistic form--but not old at all. Since jadeite and nephrite are quite hard, the techniques for forming items from them are completely different from the ease of carving soapstone. There is no collector's premium that I know of for soapstone carvings, although there is a small market for seals or carvings of soapstone that's a fairly uniform red-orange color. It's given a different name, but it's soapstone. Your carving has the decorative value of however much you like it. Best regards, Judy Post a Response |
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