Substance Journal

"Calligraphy" (onyx)

"Onyx, with its dense deep black, is a special substance.... I can well understand why ... an ancient lapidary said it reflected the shadows rather than the images of things. The grain of onyx is so fine that the veins it contains, utterly free though they are, can follow their whims with impeccable precision. In the best examples the lines are so regally sure of themselves that the need to seek for models is abolished. They express, they represent nothing but their own clarity. Without precedent, without meaning, they simply are--grandly adding to a world of appearances that does not contain their like" (The Writing of Stones, 64; 68).

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  1. Roger Caillois Mineral Collection Paul A. Harris

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