LAPIS LAZULI - Afghanistan (polished piece)
« backLAPIS LAZULI
One of the world’s most beautiful stones
Polished piece of this relatively rare semi-precious stone. This piece is a good colour and an unusual 'freeform' shape with scattered golden pyrite crystals.
The most famous source of lapis lazuli is the Kokcha Valley in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan where it has been mined since the third millennium BC. It has since been traded across the world; in ancient Egypt lapis lazuli was a favourite stone for amulets and ornaments. It has also been worked commercially in Chile and the U.S.A.
Lapis lazuli is a rock consisting of the mineral lazurite but it often contains white calcite, blue sodalite and golden metallic pyrite crystals. When powdered it was the valuable pigment known as ultramarine. Vermeer used ultramarine for his famous painting Girl With a Pearl Earring (1665).
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Size: 12.5 x 6.5 x 2 centimetres
Weight: 377 grams
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