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| Home > Materials Of Sculpture > Marble Sculptures
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| | Marble Sculptures
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Sculptures that are made with marble are very famous in allover world. Marble sculpture is  marked with a unique place in the world art. As the art of stone sculpting is very much common in every state of India. Each state is characterized by having its own distinct style. With the help of marble that is used in preparing various statues, idols of Gods & Goddesses & carvings in architecture, marble traces can be marked in India.
A large percentage of marble sculpture is employed for a sacred purpose in India. It had worked for embodying religious beliefs and philosophical ideals. But at the same time, with this art deeply sensual images of human beings are also created with using its astonishing variety.
The entire artwork of marble sculptures bears the excellent style and patterns of finest craftsmanship that are achieved with quality. All this creation is unique and innovative, carved with the finest quality to show expertise points. They provide an eloquent glimpse of strikingly attractive, versatile sizing of beautiful artistic designs and craftsmanship.
 Marble is a kind of rock resulting from the process of metamorphosis on limestone. Limestone is mostly composed of calcite that is a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, CaCO3. One of the features of marble is that the finest marbles used for sculpture almost doesn`t contain stains or very few stains. But some of natural stains are seen in the sculpture, which the sculptor has skillfully incorporated into the sculpture.
As such any kind of stone can be used for sculptures. But among the commonly used stones, only marble shows a slight surface with translucency that can be comparable to the human skin.
Advantages & Disadvantages
There are some of the advantages & disadvantages of Marble using as a medium for making sculptures.These are summarized as follows:
It is the quality of translucency that gives marble sculptures a feel of visual depth beyond its surface. And this depth results in evoking certain realism when it is used for creating figures. Marble is also having the advantage that at first quarried stage it is relatively soft and easy to work, refine, and polish.
The finished marble with time becomes harder. And its durability increase as time passes on. Preference given to the marble largely because the fineness of the marble`s grains that enables the sculptor to include every minute detail in a perfect manner. As it is kind of stone, it is also more weather resistant than sand or clay sculpture.
Marble leads to yellowish or brownish staining, if touched for many times . Though it is more resistant than limestone, it can be easily attacked by weak acids.Therefore for statues made with marble are not prepared as an outdoor statue, environment can subject to affect it . If marble sculpture is compared with metal sculpture such as Bronze, marble lacks in terms of ductility and strength. Similarly, marble sculptures require special structural considerations while planning a sculpture.
Marble Sculptures in India
From the records of history, the art of marble stone sculpture reached at the peak during the Mughal rule. Indian marble carvers are famed for their graceful proportion that is achieved in the figures & the delicate designs in the architecture with the smoothness.
It is said that with the regime of Shah Jahan , a phase of architectural activity with the use of marble in architecture is started. And this can be distinguished as an intelligent regard for our traditional pattern with an innovation. The use of marble in building temples & palaces is very common in Rajasthan State.
In Mughal dynasty, Shah Jahan`s reign is marked for monumental architectural achievements. He initiates the most important architectural change in the form of the use of marble in preparation of monuments or tombs instead of sandstone.
 He replaced the Red Fort structure made up with red stone with marble buildings such as the Diwan-i-Am i.e.hall of public audience, the Diwan-i-Khas i.e.hall of private audience, and the Moti Masjid .i.e.Pearl Mosque. He also built the black marble pavilion at the Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar and a white marble palace in Ajmer. One more important thing to be admired with the marble carvings is the intricacy of marble inlay work on various architectural marvels constructed by Mughals like Taj Mahal or buildings within Red Fort of Agra.
The very famous Taj Mahal is entirely made up with a white marble and its pure white walls with attractive & delicate designs are decorated with stone inlay work. It is said that the art of marble carving looks excellent due to use of different types of precious and semi-precious stones in stone inlay work. Such work is also found on tombs or palaces (Mahals) of Mughals.e.g. The tomb `itmad-ud-daulah`, which is a tomb of the father of Nur Jahan. The tomb was built by Nur Jahan in between 1622 and 1628 with using white marble.
Though mosaic inlay work was known to Indians & it was prevalent in India even before the Mughals came. Completely or partly carved patterns of marble on ceilings, walls can often be seen in temples of India too. Sometimes the frames of the doors & windows are carved in marble with flowers or other intricate designs in temples.
 The Dilwara Jain temples in Mount Abu, Rajasthan is carved in marble. Instead of any artistic designs, here the stress is given on enshrine various Jain `Tirthankaras`. It is constructed out of a white marble from Arasoori Hill, the temples are marked as an outstanding example of Jain temple architecture.
There are total five shrines in these temples, from which four are architecturally significant. All shrines are built with the help of white marble stones. Around the large courtyard of temples, numerous small shrines are seen. Every small shrine is employing a beautiful image of the tirthankaras with a series of elegantly carved pillars, giving rich look from the entrance to the courtyard. It is believed that this artwork had constructed during 11th and 13th centuries AD.
 In later period, many Hindu temples were carved with marble. The interiors of all these temples are covered with delicate design or religious symbols. It can be said, as the most notable feature is that the intricacy and delicacy of the marble carving is done at the best, as the marble becomes almost transparent in glance. Sometimes the frames of doors & windows of temples were carved with using marble, this gives a rich look to temples. But there is a need to highlight the achievements of the dynamic artistic traditions of marble sculpturing in India.
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