Princess Elizabeth of Graycliff and Prince Edward of Whitehill have been bound to marry each other by the terms of a magical stone engraving. If they do not marry by their sixteenth birthday, only six days away, they will turn to stone. Moments before the wedding, they meet and discover they detest each other. With the clock ticking, they set out to find a stonecutter to release them from the dreadful enchantment. Along their journey, they encounter many treacherous traps and learn a lot about life and themselves.

Everything you need to know about entering the exciting and lucrative field of Natural Stone Engraving. Using the sandblasting method, Randi Hodges walks you through everything you need to know about the art and the markets for Natural Stone Engraving.

This book discuss different types of engraved gems in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden, their makers, users and re-users, combining archaeological, culture historical and geological perspectives.

- Unusual approach to Cameos and Intaglios - Highly visual with archive material, preparatory drawings, photos and paintings - Includes 10 gate-fold pages This book is designed for the exhibition of the collection of Mr. Guy Ladrière, which will be presented by the School of Jewelery Arts in October 2021, under the commission of Mr. Philippe Malgouyres, chief curator of heritage in the art department of the Louvre. Widely illustrated and documented, this book will constitute a genuine introductory manual to the art of glyptics, thanks to its chrono-thematic approach to the history of engraved stones in the West. The author reveals a whole world in miniature, fascinating kings and emperors as much as collectors and art lovers. With materials with subtle engraved effects, cameos (relief engraving) and intaglios (intaglio engraving) have come down to us as jewels or relics, thus following all the themes of the History of Art: mythologies, symbols, portraits, allegories, etc.

In the late 1800s, archaeologists began discovering engraved stone plaques in Neolithic (3500-2500 BC) graves in southern Portugal and Spain. About the size of one's palm, usually made of slate, and incised with geometric or, more rarely, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic designs, these plaques have mystified generations of researchers. What do their symbols signify? How were the plaques produced? Were they worn during an individual's lifetime, or only made at the time of their death? Why, indeed, were the plaques made at all? Employing an eclectic range of theoretical and methodological lenses, Katina Lillios surveys all that is currently known about the Iberian engraved stone plaques and advances her own carefully considered hypotheses about their manufacture and meanings. After analyzing data on the plaques' workmanship and distribution, she builds a convincing case that the majority of the Iberian plaques were genealogical records of the dead that served as durable markers of regional and local group identities. Such records, she argues, would have contributed toward legitimating and perpetuating an ideology of inherited social difference in the Iberian Late Neolithic.

Despite the recent history of violence and destruction, Bosnia-Herzegovina holds a positive place in history, marked by a continuous interweaving of different religious cultures. The most expansive period in that regard is the Ottoman rule that lasted here nearly five centuries. As many Bosnians accepted Islam, the process of Islamization took on different directions and meanings, only some of which are recorded in the official documents. This book underscores the importance of material culture, specifically gravestones, funerary inscriptions and images, in tracing and understanding more subtle changes in Bosnia’s religious landscape and the complex cultural shifts and exchange between Christianity and Islam in this area. Gravestones are seen as cultural spaces that inscribe memory, history, and heritage in addition to being texts that display, in image and word, first-hand information about the deceased. In tackling these topics and ideas, the study is situated within several contextual, theoretical, and methodological frameworks. Raising questions about religious identity, history, and memory, the study unpacks the cultural and historical value of gravestones and other funerary markers and bolsters their importance in understanding the region’s complexity and improving its visibility in global discussions around multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Drawing upon several disciplinary methods, the book has much to offer anyone looking for a better understanding of the intersection of Christianity and Islam, as well as those with an interest in death studies.

Two years after the Taj Mahal is finally built, many secrets shroud its walls... In Agra to escort home the beautiful Shireen, Muzaffar Jang – maverick nobleman and ace detective – reluctantly finds himself at the centre of yet another murder investigation when Mumtaz Hassan, a prominent trader, is found dead under mysterious circumstances. The Diwan-i-kul, Mir Jumla, on his way to invade Bijapur, hands the task of finding the killer to Muzaffar. With almost no evidence to work with except an ambiguous scrawl on a scrap of paper found clutched in the dead man’s fist, Muzaffar knows he must find the killer before the Diwan-i-kul returns if he wants to save himself an invitation to a beheading. As he begins to uncover the dross beneath the golden opulence of the dead man and his murkily amorous past, Muzaffar chances upon another mystery: a long forgotten tale of a woman who vanished inexplicably one evening. Muzaffar Jang once again pits his wits against an array of potential suspects – even as he loses his heart... '