Elsevier

Applied Clay Science

Volume 7, Issue 5, January 1993, Pages 357-366
Applied Clay Science

Stone of a Gothic Pieta discovered in Bern: Comparison with Cretaceous marly chert from Prague

https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-1317(93)90002-IGet rights and content

Abstract

A comparative petrographical, mineralogical and chemical study using polarizing microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis for the original samples and their insoluble residues, scanning electron microscopy (SCM) for the insoluble residues and neutron activation analysis of the original samples for 30 minor and trace elements, confirms that the stone of the Pieta statue, dating from the beginning of the 15th century and recently discovered in Bern, is identical with the ‘Golden Pläner’ marly chert from Prague. This Medieval sculptural and building stone of the Turonian age is composed of: (poorly crystalline fine-grained diagenetic quartz ⪢ clastic highly crystalline quartz) > calcite > (clastic mica/illite ⪢ glauconite) > diagenetic kaolinite ⪢ (accessory feldspar, pyrite, goethite, rutile and anatase). Morphologies of microsparry to sparry calcite, ultrafine poorly crystalline diagenetic quartz, perfectly developed diagenetic kaolinite and clastic muscovite are remarkably similar in both stones. The results support the postulate of the art specialist that the Pieta comes from a Czech workshop. Mineralogy and petrology may thus be applied for scientific documentation in art history.

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Cited by (4)

  • X-ray radiography and tomography for monitoring the penetration depth of consolidants in Opuka - the building stone of Prague monuments

    2012, Journal of Cultural Heritage
    Citation Excerpt :

    The spongilite and spongolite designation is derived from the presence of impurities of sea needles, so-called sponges, of organogenic origin. From the stratigraphic point of view, spongilite belongs to the lower Turonian times [17,21]. The Opuka stone can be described as a compacted fine-grained sedimentary rock from the Cretaceous age, which is usually of yellow-brown to beige color, but there are also gray or gray-blue Opuka stones mined in the Pribylov area in the Czech Republic.

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