Not a painting, a plaster(?) Madonna and Child Framed high relief picture

I'm thinking this is a vintage (maybe 1960's ?) plaster Madonna and child. It's very large, the center plaque is 12x16" and very heavy.
Just want to be sure before I put it on the Facebook sale site in my hometown.
TIA.

 

Looks like it would be difficult to cast. That last picture with the corner of the frame - could you get a close-up of the corner of the plaque?

 

I'm not sure if this will help, but here's a few close-ups.
Thank you !

 

Could it be alabaster? There was also a salt plaster of some sort. Both melt if washed with water.

A lot of alabaster was imported in the 1960s-70s from Italy

 

Thank you Cluttered, I'll look into that. I did take a cloth dampened with distilled water to it to remove some surface marks and nothing melted but maybe you mean it would need to be saturated ?
Thank you for your help.

 

The proper name escapes me,but it looks like that product made with marble dust and resin ?

 

You may be thinking of incolay, but that is *usually* multi colored, or mottled.

 

or perhaps "cultured marble"?
http://www.ehow.com/how_7730407_cast-cultured-marble.html

 

There you go ! getting older is the pits ! Half the time I forget my own name ! LOL!

 

I don't think it can be plaster, because plaster wouldn't survive the kind of edge treatment on the back. It's something harder than plaster. Cultured marble is probably the best bet. That stuff can certainly take detail and looks good... and it's very heavy. Still a nice bit of casting.

 

I was leaning towards alabaster, it's translucent when a light is shown from the back, giving off a lovely glow. Would marble resin be translucent ?
Thank you All for the help !

 

I'm more used to Alabaster having a grain running thru it ....could this be a thin carved marble slab??

 

That would be the ideal. The biggest argument against it is the view of the whole back. If it was stone, wouldn't that be flatter and more featureless?

 

Maybe?
I 'm just thowing that out there, having seen marble table tops with a similar look underneath.....

 

There are several resin products that are used for creating marble like castings. Many of these use marble dust but not all. The white stuff painted on the edges looks like something with added synthetic fiber to give the edges additional strength.
Here is a link to one of the marble dust products:

http://www.artmolds.com/marble-powder.html

Mr. Clean magic sponges work great for getting marks off without having to wet it down. Test it on a small area. Don't rub hard, you don't want to leave marks. I found it is better to rub gently even if I have to do it several times. It also works great on porcelain and china.