Lapis lazuli Fasion Gold Jewellery Locket Chain.

Lapis lazuli Fasion Gold Jewellery Locket Chain.

By Stone.

Lap·is laz·u·li / ˈlapis ˈlazyəˌlī; ˈlazhəˌlī; ˈlazyəlē/ (also lap·is)

• n. a bright blue metamorphic rock consisting largely of lazurite, used for decoration and in jewelry.

∎  a bright blue pigment formerly made by crushing this, being the original ultramarine. ∎  the color ultramarine.

Lapis Lazuli Gold Fashion Jewellery Bracelet.

Lapis Lazuli Gold Fashion Jewellery Bracelet.

By Stone.

The Statue of Ebih-Il, a 3rd millennium BCE 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.

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Locket Chan.

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Locket Chan. 

By Stone.

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; Pakistan; Canada; Italy, India; and in the United States in California and Colorado.

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Bracelet.

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Bracelet.

By Stone.

According to the Sorbonne's mineralogist Pierre Bariand's leading work on the sources of lapis lazuli in modern times, and to references in Afghanistan's Blue Treasure: Lapis Lazuli (2011) by Lailee McNair Bakhtiar, the lapis lazuli is found in "caves" not traditionally considered "mines" and the stone lapis lazuli is from the primary source of the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan's Kochka River Valley and not in Pakistan.[citation needed]

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Locket

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Locket. 

By Stone.

Sources

Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, where the Sar-e-Sang mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years. Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained this material through trade from Afghanistan with the Aryans. During the height of the Indus Valley Civilisation about 2000 BCE, the Harappan colony now known as Shortugai was established near the lapis mines.

Lapis lazuli Jewellery Locket Chan

Lapis lazuli Jewellery Locket Chan 

By Mans Women Jewellery.

Etymology

Lapis is the Latin word for "stone" and lazulī is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lazulum, which is taken from the Arabic لازورد lāzaward, itself from the Persian لاجورد lājevard, which is the name of the stone in Persian and also of a place where lapis lazuli was mined. "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 "

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Bracelet

Lapis lazuli Gold Jewellery Bracelet.

By Mans Women Jewellery 

Today, mines in northeast Afghanistan are still the 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. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.

Lapis lazuli Jewellery Ring

Lapis lazuli Jewellery Ring 

At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. It 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 Necklace Jewellery Style

Lapis lazuli Necklace Jewellery Style 

By Mans Women Jewellery

Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan in its natural state

General

Category Metamorphic rock

Formula

(repeating unit) mixture of minerals with lazurite as the main constituent.

Crystal system None, as lapis is a rock. Lazurite, the main constituent, frequently occurs as dodecahedra

Identification

Color Blue, or purple, mottled with white calcite and brassy pyrite

Crystal habit Compact, massive

Fracture Uneven-Conchoidal

Mohs scale hardness 5–5.5

Luster dull

Streak light blue

Specific gravity 2.7–2.9

Refractive index 1.5

Other characteristics The variations in composition cause a wide variation in the above values.

Lapis lazuli (/ˈlæpɪs ˈlæzjʊli, -laɪ/), 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. As early as the 7th millennium BCE, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan 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 even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BCE)