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In the ambit of the market's current preference for marble over siliceous materials, which we discussed in an earlier article (Market Trends:Beige Limestones and Travertines), there is alsoa particular demand for especially beautiful materials.
These are primarily marbles valued for their striking chromatic effects, whether they be single colors or, more frequently, polychrome combinations which, together with interesting patterns, paint very unusual pictures that are often deeply expressive.
In fact, while there is no definition for premium marbles that differentiates them from the more common ones, as a general rule we can say that a premium marble is truly such when factors such as availability, workability, use and cost (which normally influence the real commercial potential of a stone material) are less important than its esthetic qualities.
Basically, while a routine material has to adapt to the market in order to be a success, in the case of a premium one it is the market that adapts to its specific characteristics, striving to optimize its use.
And in fact, in the case of premium marbles, the criteria for evaluating the factors we cited above are often the opposite of those for normal materials. Limited availability is viewed as rareness, signifying worth and justifying high cost, which limits utilization to a certain range of users. However, this can pose problems (and the examples are many) when wanting to use a premium and therefore rare material in the amounts usually required for a common one.
It is important to stress that premium material use is often directed towards creating a small object whose full esthetic value can be appreciated up close, tending to valorize it as a unique, unrepeatable piece rather than one that can be to some extent standardized.
The most meaningful example from this standpoint is using a premium material as a decorative element in compositions created with less fine ones. The skilful use of even minimal quantities of premium marble can considerably increase the worth of an otherwise dull creation lacking in expressive character.
Of course, this was not always so. Throughout history the concept of fine marble has gone through many changes, depending not only on the tastes of the times but also - and above all on the evolution of art and architecture. Among the ancient Egyptians, for example (the first to give a specifically esthetic purpose to building stones), the most prized materials were mainly siliceous, due to their great resistance to natural deterioration. Granite, basalt and porphyry were specifically used to create works of high symbolic work, often directly representing the sovereignty's power.
The Greeks instead preferred colored marbles, to the point that it was common practice to embellish the white marble of sculpture and temples by adding colors and even gold leaf.
But it was in ancient Rome that the premium marble concept took on a specific significance,making distinctions between the esthetic values of various varieties and hence giving them different market prices. Preference was above all for colored marbles, used to make decorative interior wall elements (crustae), while pure white marble was used for commemorative statues.
As the centuries passed and stone was used mainly to build and pave churches (comatesque art),esthetics gave way to preferences for materials with great mechanical resistance.
The Renaissance witnessed a return to the taste for colored, easy-to-work marbles, and they were used for incredible, custom-made inlay works to decorate tabletops and furniture.
In subsequent centuries, as well as being appreciated for their beauty, premium marbles for the first time took on a definite historical value, which increased in proportion to their rarity. Here, however, their use was not for architectural purposes, and even less so for building in the broader sense. These pieces of fine marble were relics coming from ruins or from the dismantling of earlier works, prevalently from ancient Rome, and were gathered into scholarly collections given great archeological value.
Finally, in the 19th century, in the wake of the reborn taste for Greek and Roman art that led to the Neoclassical, premium marbles were considered to be the very pure, monochromatic white ones,indubitably more suited for sculpture.
We have already given today's definition of fine marble, but it is worthwhile emphasizing how its changing definitions throughout history correspond to similar variations in the modern market, in this case based mainly on fashions. In fact, the esthetic parameters on which the current concept of premium marble are based are by their very nature extremely sensitive to the changes in taste dictated by trends in fashion.This obviously leads to great uncertainties on the commercial level, increasing the risks involved in putting new varieties on the market.
Right now a preeminent role is being played by breccias. Among these are long-known materials like Italian Breccia Pernice and French Breche de Vendome and Sarrancolin Opera Fantastico, but there are also others that have just recently appeared such as Rain Forest (both Green and Brown) from India and the Breccia Antica extracted in Italy.
Also deserving mention are the new blues: Sodalite Blue Royal Sapo, with a deep, more or less uniform color, and Sodalite Blue Nuvolata, a chromatic variety featuring whitish 'clouds'.Striking among materials with a black background is Pakistan's Black & Gold, while in the onyx family interest is being aroused in Alabastro Egiziano, along with other varieties found in the Arco Iris V.C., the most important of which are White Onyx and Golden Brown.
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