Marbleized

About

Imitation marble has two main histories. One is painted or modelled: Pompeian wall decoration of the First Style, in the 2nd century BC, shaped plaster to look like blocks of coloured stone, and Baroque interiors across Europe used painted faux marble and scagliola, a polished coloured plaster, where real stone was too costly. Decorative painters of the 19th century became virtuosos of marbling and graining, copying particular stones with feathers, sponges and fine brushes.

The other is floated pattern. In ebru, the marbled paper of the Ottoman world, colours are dropped onto a thickened bath, combed into swirls and lifted off onto a sheet; Japanese suminagashi floats ink in a similar way. European bookbinders used marbled endpapers from the 17th century. Potters imitate stone with agateware, wedging coloured clays together. Look for veining that is too regular, or too bold, to be real stone.