# Lapis lazuli

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Not to be confused with [Lazulite](/source/Lazulite).

For the Fabergé egg, see [Lapis Lazuli (Fabergé egg)](/source/Lapis_Lazuli_(Faberg%C3%A9_egg)).

"2" redirects here. For Lapis, see [Lazuli](/source/Lazuli).

**Lapis lazuli** (/ˌlæpɪsˈlæz(j)ʊli,_ˈlæʒʊ-,_-ˌli,_-ˌlʌɪ/; /ˈlæz(j)əli,_ˈlæʒə-,_-ˌlilæˈzuːli/) is a deep-blue [metamorphic rock](/source/Metamorphic_rock) used as a [semi-precious stone](/source/Gemstone) that has been prized since [antiquity](/source/Ancient_history) for its intense color. Its name originates from the Persian word for the gem, *lāžward*,[1] and serves as the root for the word for "[blue](/source/Blue)" in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese *azul* and English [azure](/source/Azure_(color)). Lapis lazuli is a rock composed primarily of the minerals [lazurite](/source/Lazurite), [pyrite](/source/Pyrite), [diopside](/source/Diopside), and [calcite](/source/Calcite). As early as the [7th millennium BC](/source/7th_millennium_BC), lapis lazuli was mined in the [Sar-i Sang](/source/Sar-i_Sang) mines,[2] in [Shortugai](/source/Shortugai), and in other mines in [Badakhshan](/source/Badakhshan) province in modern northeast [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan).[3] Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at [Bhirrana](/source/Bhirrana), which is the oldest site of [Indus Valley Civilisation](/source/Indus_Valley_Civilisation).[4] Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300–1900 BC).[4][5][6] Lapis beads have been found at [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) burials in [Mehrgarh](/source/Mehrgarh), the [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus), and as far away as [Mauritania](/source/Mauritania).[7] It was used in the [funeral mask of Tutankhamun](/source/Tutankhamun's_mask) (1341–1323 BC).[8]

By the end of the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages), Europe began importing lapis lazuli to grind it into powder and make [ultramarine](/source/Ultramarine) pigment. Ultramarine was used by some of the most important artists of the [Renaissance](/source/Renaissance) and [Baroque](/source/Baroque), including [Masaccio](/source/Masaccio), [Perugino](/source/Perugino), [Titian](/source/Titian) and [Vermeer](/source/Vermeer); it was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the [Virgin Mary](/source/Virgin_Mary). Ultramarine has also been found in [dental tartar](/source/Dental_tartar) of [medieval](/source/Middle_Ages) [nuns](/source/Nuns) and [scribes](/source/Scribes), perhaps as a result of licking their painting brushes while producing medieval texts and [manuscripts](/source/Illuminated_manuscript).[9]

## History

Excavations from [Tepe Gawra](/source/Tepe_Gawra) show that lapis lazuli was introduced to [Mesopotamia](/source/Mesopotamia) approximately in the late [Ubaid period](/source/Ubaid_period), c. 4900–4000 BCE.[10] It became there the chief material for magic stones.[11] A traditional understanding was that the Lapis lazuli was mined some 1,500 miles to the east – in [Badakhshan](/source/Badakhshan). Indeed, the [Persian](/source/Persian_language) لاژورد *lāžavard/lāževard*, also written لاجورد *lājevard*, is commonly interpreted as having an origin in a local place name.

From the Persian, the [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language) لازورد *lāzaward* is the etymological source of both the English word *azure* (via Old French *azur*) and [Medieval Latin](/source/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](/source/Middle_English).[12] *Lazulum* is used as a root for the word for blue in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese *azul*.[12][13]

Mines in northeast Afghanistan continue to be a major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of [Lake Baikal](/source/Lake_Baikal) in Russia, and in the [Andes](/source/Andes) mountains in Chile which is the source that the [Inca](/source/Inca) used to carve artifacts and jewelry. Smaller quantities are mined in Pakistan, Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.[14]

## Science and uses

### Composition

The most important mineral component of lapis lazuli is [lazurite](/source/Lazurite)[15] (typically 30% to 40%),[16][17] a blue [feldspathoid](/source/Feldspathoid) [silicate mineral](/source/Silicate_mineral) of the sodalite family, with the formula Na7Ca(Al6Si6O24)(SO4)(S3) ·H2O .[18] Most lapis lazuli also contains [calcite](/source/Calcite) (white), and [pyrite](/source/Pyrite) (metallic yellow). Some samples of lapis lazuli contain [augite](/source/Augite), [diopside](/source/Diopside), [enstatite](/source/Enstatite), [mica](/source/Mica), [hauynite](/source/Hauynite), [hornblende](/source/Hornblende), [nosean](/source/Nosean), and sulfur-rich [löllingite](/source/L%C3%B6llingite) *geyerite*.

Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline [marble](/source/Marble) as a result of [contact metamorphism](/source/Contact_metamorphism).

### Color

The intense blue color is due to the presence of the [trisulfur](/source/Trisulfur) [radical anion](/source/Radical_anion) (S3•−) in the crystal.[19] The presence of disulfur (S2•−) and tetrasulfur (S4•−) radicals can shift the color towards yellow or red, respectively.[20] These radical anions substitute for the chloride anions within the [sodalite](/source/Sodalite) structure.[21] The S3•− radical anion exhibits a visible absorption band in the range 595–620 nm with high molar absorptivity, leading to its bright blue color.[22]

### Sources

Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the [Kokcha River](/source/Kokcha_River) valley of [Badakhshan Province](/source/Badakhshan_Province) in north-eastern Afghanistan, where the [Sar-i Sang](/source/Sar-i_Sang) mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years.[23] 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](/source/Egypt%E2%80%93Mesopotamia_relations) and from ancient [Ethiopia](/source/Ethiopia) . During the height of the [Indus Valley Civilisation](/source/Indus_Valley_Civilisation), approximately 2000 BC, the Harappan colony, now known as [Shortugai](/source/Shortugai), was established near the lapis mines.[7]

In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis is also extracted in the [Andes](/source/Andes) (near [Ovalle](/source/Ovalle,_Chile), [Chile](/source/Chile)); and to the west of [Lake Baikal](/source/Lake_Baikal) in Siberia, Russia, at the Tultui lazurite deposit. It is mined in smaller amounts in [Angola](/source/Angola), Argentina, [Burma](/source/Burma), [Ethiopia](/source/Ethiopia), Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States in [California](/source/California) and [Colorado](/source/Colorado).[14]

### Uses and substitutes

Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewellery, carvings, boxes, [mosaics](/source/Mosaic), ornaments, small statues, and vases. Interior items and finishing of buildings can be also made with lapis. During the [Renaissance](/source/Renaissance), lapis was ground and processed to make the [pigment](/source/Pigment) [ultramarine](/source/Ultramarine) for use in [frescoes](/source/Fresco) and [oil painting](/source/Oil_painting). Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended during the early 19th century, when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available.

Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gillson process, which is used to make artificial [ultramarine](/source/Ultramarine) and [hydrous](/source/Hydrate) [zinc phosphates](/source/Zinc_phosphate).[24] [Spinel](/source/Spinel) or [sodalite](/source/Sodalite), or dyed [jasper](/source/Jasper) or [howlite](/source/Howlite), can be substituted for lapis.[25]

## History and art

### In the ancient world

Further information: [Art of ancient Egypt#Lapis lazuli](/source/Art_of_ancient_Egypt#Lapis_lazuli)

Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) age,[26][27] along the ancient trade route between Afghanistan and the [Indus Valley](/source/Indus_Valley) dating to the 7th millennium BC. Quantities of these beads have also been found at 4th millennium BC settlements in Northern [Mesopotamia](/source/Mesopotamia), and at the [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) site of [Shahr-e Sukhteh](/source/Shahr-e_Sukhteh) in southeast Iran (3rd millennium BC). A dagger with a lapis handle, a bowl inlaid with lapis, amulets, beads, and inlays representing eyebrows and beards, were found in the Royal Tombs of the Sumerian city-state of [Ur](/source/Ur) from the 3rd millennium BC.[26]

Lapis was also used in ancient Persia, Mesopotamia by the [Akkadians](/source/Akkadians), [Assyrians](/source/Assyria), and [Babylonians](/source/Babylonians) for [seals](/source/Cylinder_seal) and jewelry. It is mentioned several times in the Mesopotamian poem, the [Epic of Gilgamesh](/source/Epic_of_Gilgamesh) (17th–18th century BC), one of the oldest known works of literature. The [Statue of Ebih-Il](/source/Statue_of_Ebih-Il), a 3rd millennium BC statue found in the ancient city-state of [Mari](/source/Mari,_Syria) in modern-day [Syria](/source/Syria), now in the [Louvre](/source/Louvre), uses lapis lazuli inlays for the irises of the eyes.[28]

In ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was a favorite stone for amulets and ornaments such as [scarabs](/source/Scarab_(artifact)). Lapis jewellery has been found at excavations of the [Predynastic Egyptian](/source/Predynastic_Egypt) site [Naqada](/source/Naqada) (3300–3100 BC). At [Karnak](/source/Karnak), the relief carvings of [Thutmose III](/source/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](/source/Cleopatra).[7][29]

Jewelry made of lapis lazuli has also been found at [Mycenae](/source/Mycenae) attesting to relations between the Myceneans and the developed civilizations of Egypt and the East.[30]

[Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder) wrote that lapis lazuli is "opaque and sprinkled with specks of gold".[31] 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.[citation needed] In the early Christian tradition lapis lazuli was regarded as the stone of [Virgin Mary](/source/Mary,_mother_of_Jesus).[citation needed]

In late classical times and as late as the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli was often called [sapphire](/source/Sapphire) (*sapphirus* in Latin, *sappir* in Hebrew),[32] though it had little to do with the stone today known as the blue [corundum](/source/Corundum) variety sapphire. In his book on stones, the Greek scientist [Theophrastus](/source/Theophrastus) described "the sapphirus, which is speckled with gold," a description which matches lapis lazuli.[33]

There are many references to "sapphire" in the [Old Testament](/source/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.[34] Modern translations of the Bible, such as the New Living Translation Second Edition,[35] refer to lapis lazuli in most instances instead of sapphire.

### Vermeer

[Johannes Vermeer](/source/Johannes_Vermeer) used lapis lazuli paint in the *[Girl with a Pearl Earring](/source/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring)* painting.[36][37]

### Yeats

The poet, [William Butler Yeats](/source/W._B._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.[38]

### Present day

#### Usage by the Taliban

In 2014, a militia under Haji Abdul Malek, a former commander during the [Afghan Civil War](/source/Afghan_Civil_War), gained control of the [Kuran wa Munjan](/source/Kuran_wa_Munjan) district, where major lapis mines were located. Under control of Malek, armed groups received ~$20 million from the mines in 2014, an estimated $1 million of those profits going to the [Taliban](/source/Taliban). The former Afghan government itself only declared about $20 million received across the whole of the country's lapis mines in 2013. The Taliban were reported to have taken around $4 million in profits from the mines in 2014.[39][40] The working conditions in the mines are highly unethical.[41]

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1. Schumann, Walter (2006 [2002]). "Sapphire". *Gemstones of the World*. Newly revised & expanded 3rd ed. New York: Sterling. p. 102. In antiquity and as late as the Middle Ages, the name sapphire was understood to mean what is today described as lapis lazuli.

1. Theophrastus, *On Stones* (De Lapidibus) – IV-23, translated by D.E. Eichholtz, Oxford University Press, 1965.

1. Pearlie Braswell-Tripp (2013), *Real Diamonds and Precious Stones of the Bible* ISBN 978-1-4797-9644-1

1. "In His Image Devotional Bible" ISBN 978-1-4143-3763-0

1. ["Vermeer's Palette: Natural Ultramarine"](http://www.essentialvermeer.com/palette/palette_ultramarine.html). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211123183602/http://www.essentialvermeer.com/palette/palette_ultramarine.html) 2021-11-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-06-23.

1. Van Loon, Annelies; Gambardella, Alessa A.; Gonzalez, Victor; Cotte, Marine; De Nolf, Wout; Keune, Katrien; Leonhardt, Emilien; De Groot, Suzan; Proaño Gaibor, Art Ness; Vandivere, Abbie (2020). "Out of the blue: Vermeer's use of ultramarine in Girl with a Pearl Earring". *Heritage Science*. **8**. [doi:10.1186/s40494-020-00364-5](https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00364-5). [hdl:11245.1/f5ccdcdd-cf3f-40d6-abb5-2960b0232f69](https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/f5ccdcdd-cf3f-40d6-abb5-2960b0232f69). [S2CID 211540737](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:211540737)

1. Labistour, Marion & Yeats, W. B. (1966). "Lapis Lazuli". *Critical Survey*. **3** (1): 13–16. [ISSN 0011-1570](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0011-1570). [JSTOR 41553715](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41553715)

1. ["Afghanistan’s famous lapis mines funding the Taliban and armed groups, new investigation shows"](https://globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/afghanistans-famous-lapis-mines-funding-the-taliban-and-armed-groups-new-investigation-shows). *globalwitness.org*. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2026.

1. Boone, Jon (6 June 2016). ["Illegal mining of lapis lazuli fuels Taliban's rise in Afghan province"](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/06/illegal-mining-of-lapis-lazuli-is-bankrolling-taliban-says-report). *theguardian.com*. Retrieved 3 February 2026.

1. Alpert, Megan (6 June 2016). ["Blood Lapis: How Mining Funds Afghanistan’s Violence"](https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/06/blood-lapis-how-mining-funds-afghanistans-violence). *foreignpolicy.com*. Retrieved 2 February 2026.

### Bibliography

- Bakhtiar, Lailee McNair, *Afghanistan's Blue Treasure Lapis Lazuli*, Front Porch Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-0615573700
- Bariand, Pierre, "Lapis Lazuli", Mineral Digest, Vol 4 Winter 1972.
- Bowersox, Gary W. & Chamberlin, Bonita E. (1995). *Gemstones of Afghanistan*. Tucson, AZ: Geoscience Press.
- [Herrmann, Georgina](/source/Georgina_Herrmann), "Lapis Lazuli: The Early Phases of Its Trade", Oxford University Dissertation, 1966.
- Korzhinskij, D. S., "Gisements bimetasomatiques de philogophite et de lazurite de l'Archen du pribajkale", Traduction par Mr. Jean Sagarzky-B.R.G.M., 1944.
- Lapparent A. F., Bariand, P. et Blaise, J., "Une visite au gisement de lapis lazuli de Sar-e-Sang du Hindu Kouch, Afghanistan," C.R. Somm.S.G.P.p. 30, 1964.
- Oldershaw, Cally (2003). *Firefly Guide to Gems*. Toronto: Firefly Books..
- Wise, Richard W., *Secrets of the Gem Trade: The Connoisseur's Guide to Precious Gemstones*, 2016 ISBN 9780972822329
- Wyart J. Bariand P, Filippi J., "Le Lapis Lazuli de Sar-e-SAng", Revue de Geographie Physique et de Geologie Dynamique (2) Vol. XIV Pasc. 4 pp. 443–448, Paris, 1972.

## External links

- [Lapis lazuli](http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/lapis.html) at Gemstone.org
- [Documentation from online course produced by University of California at Berkeley](https://web.archive.org/web/20090101082000/http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~eps2/wisc/Lect16.html)
- [Lapislazuli: Occurrence, Mining and Market Potential of a blue Mineral Pigment](http://www.mineral-exploration.de/mepub/lapislazuli.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201130112438/http://www.mineral-exploration.de/mepub/lapislazuli.pdf) 2020-11-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ["Why a Medieval Woman Had Lapis Lazuli Hidden in Her Teeth"](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/the-woman-with-lapis-lazuli-in-her-teeth/579760/), *[The Atlantic](/source/The_Atlantic)*, January 2019
- [Lapis Lazuli birthstone](https://www.birthstone.guide/lapis-lazuli-birthstone-meaning) virtues and story at birthstone.guide

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lapis lazuli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.