Stone Carving View PDF version

On this island where geology is so varied, “stone carving” is an ancient craft, transmitted from generation to generation.

Diverse natural stones
Jean-François Clergerie visiting a seller of natural stones.

Madagascar is very rich in precious and semi-precious stones. The stones were originally carved to make tools and weapons. The craft then evolved towards producing ornamental stones (jewels) and sculptures.

There are two techniques for carving:

  • Cabochon : it is a stone which, once carved, is rounded at the top. This technique is best for bringing out colours and impressions of opaque stones such as jasper, amazonite or septarian ;
  • Facetting : stones carved in facets have a series of flat and polished surfaces. This technique allows to reflect the light in an incredible way and thus gives the shine and shimmering quality to transparent or translucent stones such as quartz, ruby, sapphire, emerald or agate.

Click on an image to enlarge.

Rough Stones - Before polishing Polishing the stones - Work done with a machine Display of polished stones - Antananarivo Market Polished Stones - After polishing Man selling Stones - Antananarivo Market Stone Display - Natural and polished stones. Items of all sizes Stone seller - Antananarivo region info document - Antananarivo region info document info document Labradorite - Photo taken at the warehouse. A stone with beautiful reflections !
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