alabaster

views updated May 17 2018

alabaster. Massive, fine-grained partly translucent type of gypsum (calcium sulphate), coloured white, yellow, red, and brown, called bastard alabaster, often employed for church fittings and monuments. Oriental or calcareous alabaster is a translucent calcium carbonate, yellowish-white in colour, broken with milky veins. Thin slabs of oriental alabaster were often used in window-lights (especially in Italy), and the sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti I, now in Sir John Soane's Museum, London, is made of this material.

alabaster

views updated May 11 2018

al·a·bas·ter / ˈaləˌbastər/ • n. a fine-grained, translucent form of gypsum, typically white, often carved into ornaments.• adj. made of alabaster. ∎ poetic/lit. like alabaster in whiteness and smoothness.

alabaster

views updated Jun 11 2018

alabaster Fine-grained, massive variety of gypsum (calcium sulphate), snow-white and translucent in its natural form. It can be dyed or made opaque by heating and is used for making statues and other ornaments.

alabaster

views updated May 29 2018

alabaster XIV. — OF. alabastre (mod. albâtre)- L. alabaster, -trum container for perfume — Gr. alábast(r)os.

alabaster

views updated May 08 2018

alabaster See GYPSUM.