556

CHISELLED, CALVED, AND SCULPTURED STONE-WORK.

r Class XXVII.

B. Chiselled, Carved, and Sculptured Stone-Work,

NOT POLISHED.

a. Large Monumental Works , chiefly constructed ofGranite .

These noble monuments, of excellent material and good■workmanship, and remarkable for the public spirit whichinduced their respective owners to incur very great ex-pense in preparing and transmitting them, may be con-sidered as permanent records of the good feeling that hasbeen perhaps the most characteristic feature throughoutthe preparation of the Great Exhibition . Three of theseobjects, of large size, are from Cornwall , and are finespecimens of the granites of that county. Another is ahighly-interesting and more finished specimen of Swedishgranite, by no means so large as the former, but hardlyless remarkable. There is also one exhibited in the Nave,constructed of Caen stone.

The granite column sent by the Ciieesewring Gra-nite Company (Outside, 54, p. 117) is a very beautifulspecimen of a stone obtained from quarries hitherto littleworked, on property belonging to the Prince of Wales,near Liskeard, Cornwall . The shaft, cut from a singleblock, and worked at the quarry, is highly creditable;and the pedestal and base, worked in London , are in goodproportion and well executed. The capital is ratherheavy. The total height of the column, pedestal, and baseis about 30 feet. For the material, style, and workman-ship of this column the Jury have awarded a Prize Medal.

The obelisk sent by Messrs. W. and J. Freeman (Out-side, 14, p. 114) is from Lamorna granite quarries, Corn-wall , well known for their excellent material. Its heightis upwards of 22 feet, and its weight 21 tons. It is placedon a block of Carnsew granite, weighing 31 tons. The dif-ficulties and expense incurred in quarrying, removing,and placing objects of these enormous dimensions canhardly be judged of by those who merely see the finishedresult. The preparation and erection of an obelisk for-merly the work of years, and still involving enormouslabour and trouble, was, in this case, completed within afew months, merely as a sample of the nature of the ma-terial and the resources of the exhibitor. A Prize Medalhas been awarded for this work. 4 *

Mr. IIosken’s obelisk (Outside, 75, p. 118) is fromNo. 2 granite quarry in Carnsew, near Penryn, the pro-perty of the exhibitor. It is 18 feet high, about 3 ft. 5 in.square at the base, and 1 ft. 6 in. square at the top. Theweight is about 8 tons, and it stands on a granite blockfrom No. 14 quarry in Killieven, in the parish of Con-stantine, also weighing about 8 tons. Both granites areof excellent quality, that of the obelisk more especially,the grain being fine, and the colour very good. A PrizeMedal has been awarded.

The cross exhibited by Mr. Kullgren (Outside, E.100, and Sweden , 118, p. 118), and worked from a sin-gle block of granite, is remarkable for the extremefineness and closeness of grain of the stone, and the deli-cacy of finish which its texture permits. The stone isobtained from extensive quarries on the island of Malmon,on the west coast of Sweden , whence the transport to thiscountry is easy and cheap. It bears a high polish, and thecost of wages in the district whence it comes being very low,there is good reason to believe that it might be exportedwith advantage. The actual cost of a similar object hasnot, however, been ascertained. The Jury have awardeda Prize Medal to the exhibitor of this monument.

b. Smaller Miscellaneous Works in Granite , Porphyry , Sfc.

Concerning these objects, the Jury have but few re-marks to offer. The cenotaph exhibited by Messrs. Poil-

* It was probably owing to some accidental misappre-hension of the state of the case that the Medal awarded toMessrs. Freeman for their noble collection of buildingstones in Class I. was withdrawn in favour of the obeliskin Class XXVII. The Jury of Class XXVII. awarded theMedal for the obelisk as a manufactured block of graniteremarkable for its dimensions; but according to the ge-neral rule adopted in other similar cases, the award ofClass I. should have been retained, the Exhibitors beingmerchants and not manufacturers.

leu Brothers (France , 962, p. 1225), to which the Juryhave awarded a Prize Medal, is a small object constructedof a kind of greenstone trap, whose chief merit arisesfrom the difficulty of working a material so hard andtough. The style selected is impure Gothic, with severalfigures, and some open work. The execution is moreelaborate than successful, and the work is left with asmooth face, without any attempt at further detail.Some of the small figures are fairly sculptured. Thecolour and general effect are not very pleasing. Theestablishment of these exhibitors is in the west of France ,whence the material is obtained.

A head-stone of Aberdeen granite, manufactured byMr. I. Wright (43, p. 766), is a beautiful specimen ofmaterial, admirably worked, and is worthy of specialnotice, as designed in good taste, well executed, and welladapted for its object. The Jury make Honourable Men-tion of this object, considering it as highly creditable tothe manufacturer.

The bust and pedestal of blue Peterhead granite,worked and exhibited by Mr. John Hutchison, of Mo-nyray, near Peterhead (Class I., 161, p. 137), is also acreditable and interesting specimen of its kind. Its ob-ject is chiefly to show the adaptability of a stone ofexcellent quality and great hardness to purposes of artexposed in the open air in cities, aud the Jury considerit worthy of Honourable Mention, especially as theylearn that it has been very rapidly executed, under cir-cumstances of some difficulty, by a young man who hadnot before attempted anything of the kind. The cost ofgranite statues has been stated by Mr. C. II. Smith* asnearly the same as that of bronze, and their durability,when exposed to the smoke and acid vapours of a town,is very much greater.

The slab of granite from Craignair, near Dalbeattie,exhibited by the proprietor, Wellwood Maxwell, Esq.(Class I., 134, p. 135), is from a well-known quarry ofexcellent material, adapted for ornamental architecture.The composition is a grey quartz, with white or flesh-coloured felspar, and greenish hornblende, often inbands: it is therefore a Syenite. Another manufacturedobject is of a kind of trap rock found near Edinburgh ,which may here be referred to as useful for various pur-poses, and extremely durable, if not very ornamental.The stone alluded to is not unlike that worked by Messrs.Poilleu (France, 962), and is called “ Barnton MountGranite/ ’ It is exhibited by Mr. G. Johnstone, ofCraigleith (Class I., 175, p. 138). The curling-stones,made of greenstone trap, and sent by Mr. A. Cassels(Class I., 26, p. 123), and Mr. J. Kay (Class I., 27, p. 123),are also interesting from the great toughness of the rockof which they are made—a quality greatly required forthe use to which they are put in the national game fromwhich the name of curling-stone is derived. The materialis felspathic, with small grains of quartz and minute par-ticles of hornblende. Lastly, we may mention the orna-mental works in Scotch granite, chiefly of jewellery, ex-hibited by Mr. Jamieson (Class I., 25, p. 123), andMessrs. Ellis and Son (Class XXIII., 12, p. 674), andremarkable for the delicacy aud beauty with which theyare finished. These will doubtless be noticed elsewhere,so far as they claim admiration for taste and execution.We only refer to them here as showing good samples ofmanufacture of the fine-grained granitic rocks found insome parts of Scotland .

c. Works in Caen Stone.

The stone obtained from the quarries of Allemagneand others near Caen, in Normandy , has been used inecclesiastical architecture for so many centuries, that itwould be useless to trace back its history for the pur-poses of this Report. The rock is an oolite belonging toabout the same geological period as our own oolitesworked near Bath; but the colour is better and moreuniform, the texture far closer, and the material superiorin almost every respect. It is at first absorbent, but im-proves on exposure. It cuts with perfect facility, and is

* Institute of British Architects, Report of Meeting of24th March, 1851.