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Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a Gemstone that has been prized since ancient history for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, lāžward, lapis lazuli is a rock composed primarily of the minerals lazurite, pyrite and calcite. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines,David Bomford and Ashok Roy, A Closer Look- Colour (2009), National Gallery Company, London, () in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation. Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300–1900 BC). Lapis beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC).Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce
By the end of the Middle Ages, Europe began importing Lapis lazuli in order to grind it into powder and make ultramarine pigment. Ultramarine was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the Virgin Mary. Ultramarine has also been found in dental tartar of Middle Ages nuns and scribes, perhaps as a result of licking their painting brushes while producing medieval texts and manuscripts.
From the Persian, the Arabic language لازورد is the etymological source of both the English word azure (via Old French azur) and Medieval Latin lazulum, which came to mean 'heaven' or 'sky'. To disambiguate, lapis lazulī ("stone of lazulum") was used to refer to the stone itself, and is the term ultimately imported into Middle English. Lazulum is etymologically related to the color blue, and used as a root for the word for blue in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese azul.
Mines in northeast Afghanistan continue to be a major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Andes mountains in Chile which is the source that the Inca used to carve artifacts and jewelry. Smaller quantities are mined in Pakistan, Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.
Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.
In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis is also extracted in the Andes (near Ovalle, Chile); and to the west of Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, at the Tultui lazurite deposit. It is mined in smaller amounts in Angola, Argentina, Burma, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States in California and Colorado.
Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gillson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and Hydrate .Read, Peter (2005). Gemmology , Elsevier, p. 185. . Spinel or sodalite, or dyed jasper or howlite, can be substituted for lapis. Lapis lazuli , Gemstone Buzz.
Lapis was also used in ancient Persia, Mesopotamia by the Akkadians, , and Babylonians for Cylinder seal and jewelry. It is mentioned several times in the Mesopotamian poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh (17th–18th century BC), one of the oldest known works of literature. The Statue of Ebih-Il, a 3rd millennium BC statue found in the ancient city-state of Mari in modern-day Syria, now in the Louvre, uses lapis lazuli inlays for the irises of the eyes.
In ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was a favorite stone for amulets and ornaments such as scarabs. Lapis jewellery has been found at excavations of the Predynastic Egyptian site Naqada (3300–3100 BC). At Karnak, the relief carvings of Thutmose III (1479–1429 BC) show fragments and barrel-shaped pieces of lapis lazuli being delivered to him as tribute. Powdered lapis was used as eyeshadow by Cleopatra.[3] Moment of Science site, Indiana Public Media
Jewelry made of lapis lazuli has also been found at Mycenae attesting to relations between the Myceneans and the developed civilizations of Egypt and the East.Alcestis Papademetriou, Mycenae, John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, 2015, p. 32.
Pliny the Elder wrote that lapis lazuli is "opaque and sprinkled with specks of gold". Because the stone combines the blue of the heavens and golden glitter of the sun, it was emblematic of success in the old Jewish tradition. In the early Christian tradition lapis lazuli was regarded as the stone of Virgin Mary.
In late classical times and as late as the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli was often called sapphire ( sapphirus in Latin, sappir in Hebrew), though it had little to do with the stone today known as the blue corundum variety sapphire. In his book on stones, the Greek scientist Theophrastus described "the sapphirus, which is speckled with gold," a description which matches lapis lazuli.Theophrastus, On Stones (De Lapidibus) – IV-23, translated by D.E. Eichholtz, Oxford University Press, 1965.
There are many references to "sapphire" in the Old Testament, but most scholars agree that, since sapphire was not known before the Roman Empire, they most likely are references to lapis lazuli. For instance, Exodus 24:10: "And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone..." (KJV). The words used in the Latin Vulgate Bible in this citation are "quasi opus lapidis sapphirini", the terms for lapis lazuli.Pearlie Braswell-Tripp (2013), Real Diamonds and Precious Stones of the Bible Modern translations of the Bible, such as the New Living Translation Second Edition,"In His Image Devotional Bible" refer to lapis lazuli in most instances instead of sapphire.
== Gallery ==
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer used lapis lazuli paint in the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting.
Yeats
The poet, William Butler Yeats, describes a figurine of sculpted lapis lazuli in a poem entitled "Lapis Lazuli". The sculpture of three men from China, a bird, and a musical instrument serves in the poem as a reminder of "gaiety" in the face of tragedy.
bald clean-shaven male worshipper head, 2600–2500 BC; gypsum, shell, lapis lazuli and bitumen; from Nippur (Iraq); Museum of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (Chicago)]] scarab finger ring; 1850–1750 BC; lapis lazuli scarab set in gold plate and on a gold wire ring lapis-lazuli; diameter: , the scarab: ; Metropolitan Museum of Art]] mountains. National Museum of Natural History (Washington, D.C.)]]
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