As Webster says it,
lapidary is an adjective, derived from the Latin lapidarius
"pertaining to stone," from lapis,
lapid, "stone." It's meanings
include “engraved in stone”, “or of pertaining to the art of cutting
stones or engraving on them”, or “pertaining to the refined or terse style
associated with inscriptions on monumental stone”. It can also be used as a
noun meaning “one who cuts, polishes or engraves precious stones” or “a dealer
in precious stones”.
Concerned with stones,
lapidary is the craft of working, forming and finishing of the following stones:
- Amber
- Shell
- Jet
- Pearl
- Copal
- Coral
- Horn
- Bone
- Glass
- As well as precious
stones such as diamonds, etc. and other synthetics
It crafts these stones
into functional, decorative and wearable items. Some forms of “cutting in
stones” has been referred to as lapidary artwork such as sculpturing,
architecture and preparing laboratory “thin sections”, even though lapidary is
normally associated with jewelry and household decorative items. Some of these
decorative items are in the form of bookends, clock faces and ornaments.
Three broad categories of
lapidary art exist. They are tumbling (a technique for smoothing and polishing
a hard substance), cabochon cutting or cabouchon (a gemstone which has been
shaped and polished as opposed to facetted), and faceting which are (flat faces
on geometric shapes). Presently most lapidary work is accomplished using
motorized tools and resin. To be successful in decreasing particle sizes and
refine a polished appearance a metal bonding diamond tooling is used especially
when engraving diamonds and jewelry.
Lapidary is used in
calligraphy such in the inscription for marble or other stones using chiseling
strokes. For example on Trajan’s Column in the Forum at Rome, the words
inscription is painted upon the stone slab at first and the lapidarian uses it
as a guide for the designing of the inscription. After stonecutting, the
letters may be heightened by painting or gilding them. Light and shape with the
play of light on the strokes enhances the precision of the technique.
The square Roman capital
alphabet reached it’s tone of elegance with the lapidary style.
Following are some famous quotes made
concerning the word lapidary:
“Here,
disgusted by venality and intrigue, the retired courtier would come to
compose lapidary maxims and wise but sympathetic letters to ardent youth."
--Michael Foley
"If I
asked how long it took to simmer the meat sauce, Emilia would
answer with a grumble and her usual lapidary phrase: ‘Quanto basta.’ “As long
as it takes”. --Patrizia Chen
"The
settings for Jim Crace's fiction are always evoked with superb, lapidary
precision. --Caroline Moore, concerning "The Timid Don Juan".
"Nor
is he dismissive of the benefits of modern technology; but a constant theme,
like a mounting basso continuo in his story, is the destructive modern
emergence of "the cult of the quantitative method known as scientism,
physicalism, and reductionism," leading to what C. S. Lewis called in a
lapidary phrase "the abolition of man." --M. D. Aeschliman,
"These
writers have long and eloquently regretted the latter's lapsed
reputation and the unavailability (until now) of his work, pointing to his
plain, unobtrusive prose and to his bleak take on life (traits that can be
traced, in their view, to Hemingway's lapidary sentences and to his Lost
Generation pessimism). --Lee Siegel
"The writer of an epitaph should not be considered as saying nothing but what is strictly true. Allowance must be made for some degree of exaggerated praise. In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath."--Samuel Johnson, c. 1775
Another use of lapidary is the Windows
XP programmable language unit for testing framework in the Ruby language.
Sources:
23 Aug 2004 http://lapidary.sourceforge.net/ .
23 Aug 2004 http://www.fact-index.com/l/la/lapidary.html .
Encyclopedia Britannica
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/LifeofJohnson/chap20.html