Editing Onyx (section)

==Historical use==

[[File:Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna June 2006 031.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A photograph showing a roughly rectangular gem set in a gold frame with 2 carved panels with various figures carved in shallow from translucent white chalcedony against a solid black background|The [[Gemma Augustea]] is a Roman [[cameo (carving)|cameo]] produced 9–12&nbsp;AD and [[engraved gem|carved]] in a two-layered onyx gem (19 × 23 cm).]]

It has a long history of use for [[hardstone carving]] and [[jewelry]], where it is usually cut as a [[cabochon]] or into beads. It has also been used for [[intaglio (jewelry)|intaglio]] and hardstone [[cameo (carving)|cameo]] [[engraved gems]], where the bands make the image contrast with the ground.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kraus|first1=Edward Henry|last2=Slawson|first2=Chester Baker|title=Gems and Gem Materials|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.280103|year=1947|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York, New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.280103/page/n234 227]}}</ref> Some onyx is natural but much of the material in commerce is produced by the staining of agate.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Liddicoat|first1=Richard Thomas|last2=Copeland|first2=Lawrence L.|title=The Jewelers' Manual|year=1974|publisher=Gemological Institute of America|location=Los Angeles, California|page=87}}</ref>

Onyx was used in [[Egypt]] as early as the Second Dynasty to make bowls and other pottery items.<ref>{{cite book|last=Porter|first=Mary Winearls|author-link=Mary Winearls Porter|title=What Rome was Built with: A Description of the Stones Employed|url=https://archive.org/details/whatromewasbuilt00portiala|year=1907|publisher=H. Frowde|location=Rome|page=[https://archive.org/details/whatromewasbuilt00portiala/page/108 108]}}</ref> Use of sardonyx appears in the art of [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Crete]], notably from the archaeological recoveries at [[Knossos]].<ref>C. Michael Hogan (2007) [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes ''Knossos fieldnotes'', The Modern Antiquarian]</ref>

Brazilian green onyx was often used as plinths for [[art deco]] sculptures created in the 1920s and 1930s. The German sculptor [[Ferdinand Preiss]] used Brazilian green onyx for the base on the majority of his [[chryselephantine]] sculptures.<ref name=Hickmet>{{cite web|title=Ferdinand Preiss|url=http://www.hickmet.com/artist/fritz-ferdinand-preiss|website=Hickmet.com|access-date=18 June 2015}}</ref> Green onyx was also used for trays and pin dishes – produced mainly in [[Austria]] – often with small bronze animals or figures attached.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lot 419, Schmidt-Hofer, Otto, 1873–1925 (Germany)|website=ArtValue.com| url=http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--schmidt-hofer-otto-1873-1925-g-art-deco-skulptur-in-form-eine-2160708.htm}}</ref>

Onyx is mentioned in the Bible many times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Onyx&version=DRA&resultspp=25|title=BibleGateway|work=biblegateway.com|access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref> Sardonyx (onyx in which white layers alternate with sard – a brownish color) is mentioned in the Bible as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=sardOnyx&qs_version=DRA|title=BibleGateway|work=biblegateway.com|access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref>

Onyx was known to the [[Ancient Greek]]s and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/onyx.html|title=Onyx|author=Administrator|work=gemstone.org|access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref> The first-century naturalist [[Pliny the Elder]] described both types of onyx and various artificial treatment techniques in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]''.<ref name="O'Donoghue"/>

Slabs of onyx (from the [[Atlas Mountains]]) were famously used by [[Mies van der Rohe]] in [[Villa Tugendhat]] at [[Brno]] (completed 1930) to create a shimmering semi-translucent interior wall.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Interiors|url=http://www.tugendhat.eu|publisher=Villa Tugendhat|access-date=2 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Tugendhat Villa in Brno|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1052|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=2 September 2017}}</ref>

The [[Hôtel de la Païva]] in Paris is noted for its yellow onyx décor, and the new [[Mariinsky Theatre Second Stage]] in St.Petersburg uses yellow onyx in the lobby.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Superstitions===
The ancient Romans entered battle carrying amulets of sardonyx engraved with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], the god of war. This was believed to bestow courage in battle. In Renaissance Europe, wearing sardonyx was believed to bestow eloquence.<ref>Firefly Guide to Gems By Cally Oldershaw, p.168</ref> A traditional [[Persians|Persian]] belief is that it helped with [[epilepsy]].<ref>The Mining World, Volume 32, June 25, 1910, p.1267</ref> Sardonyx was traditionally used by English midwives to ease childbirth by laying it between the breasts of the mother.<ref>Three thousand years of mental healing By George Barton Cutten, 1911 P.202</ref>