anonymous
10 Kg Lapis Lazuli, 2025
Afghanistan Lapis Lazuli
Lapis lazuli or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity 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 in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan.
By the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into the pigment ultramarine. 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.
Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.
Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan, where the Sar-i Sang mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years. Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Persian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained the material through trade with Mesopotamians, as part of Egypt–Mesopotamia relations. During the height of the Indus Valley civilisation, approximately 2000 BC, the Harappan colony, now known as Shortugai, was established near the lapis mines.
During the Renaissance, lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting.
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.
Johannes Vermeer used lapis lazuli paint, in the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting.
Lapis lazuli or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity 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 in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan.
By the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into the pigment ultramarine. 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.
Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.
Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan, where the Sar-i Sang mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years. Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Persian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained the material through trade with Mesopotamians, as part of Egypt–Mesopotamia relations. During the height of the Indus Valley civilisation, approximately 2000 BC, the Harappan colony, now known as Shortugai, was established near the lapis mines.
During the Renaissance, lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting.
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.
Johannes Vermeer used lapis lazuli paint, in the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting.
Heavy stone 21 lbs or ~10Kgs
L x W X H - 5" x 4" x 14"
L x W X H - 5" x 4" x 14"
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Having experienced Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring painting at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands- the utramarine blue in the head covering was etched in my mind....
Having experienced Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring painting at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands- the utramarine blue in the head covering was etched in my mind. After research found out that the color was from the lapis lazuli metamorphic rock. Thus began the journey to source the best large format Lapis one could find. Ran into an Afghani on Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco who I sourced this beautiful stone piece from.
Provenance
Afghanistan - Ahmad Noory - Haight-Ashbury San Francisco, 20251
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