Lapis lazuli is a deep blue rock, not a single mineral. GIA describes it as a mix of lazurite, which gives the blue, with white calcite and gold-colored flecks of pyrite. Britannica notes that the pyrite flecks have been compared to stars in the sky. The name means "stone of azure": Latin lapis, "stone," plus a word taken from the Arabic and Persian name for the stone, which also gave English "azure."
The mines of Badakhshan
For thousands of years the finest lapis has come from the mountains of Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan. GIA says mines there were producing by 700 BC and still produce today, the world's oldest known commercial gemstone sources. Caravans carried the stone to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, India and Greece.
Ur and Tutankhamun
In the Royal Cemetery at Ur, in today's Iraq, tombs of about 2600 to 2500 BCE held lapis beads, inlays and cylinder seals. Queen Puabi is known by a lapis seal bearing her name, and a diadem of thousands of tiny lapis beads lay near her head. The Penn Museum says the stone probably came from Afghanistan.
In Egypt, lapis outlines the eyes and eyebrows of Tutankhamun's gold mask. Howard Carter's notes add a twist: the blue stripes of the headdress are glass colored to look like lapis.
Ultramarine: blue from beyond the sea
Ground and washed, lapis became ultramarine, the most brilliant and stable blue European painters had in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The name comes from medieval Latin ultramarinus, "beyond the sea." The National Gallery in London notes that the best grades could be worth more than gold, and that patrons often paid for the exact amount used in a painting.
Lapis in Buddhism
Buddhist sutras describe stupas and pure lands made of seven treasures, and the lists differ. A common list from the Lotus Sutra runs gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl and carnelian. The word read as lapis is the Sanskrit vaidurya, liuli (琉璃) in Chinese, and translators disagree on it. Most write lapis lazuli. Some, including Max Müller and Hisao Inagaki in the Amitabha Sutra, write beryl.
The same word is in the full name of the Medicine Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru, usually translated "Medicine Guru, King of Lapis Lazuli Light." His sutra, which Xuanzang put into Chinese in 650, places him in an eastern land called Pure Lapis Lazuli. In Himalayan paintings his body may be blue, a color the Rubin Museum links to the lapis radiance his sutra describes.
Dyed look-alikes and care
Some lapis is dyed to deepen the blue and hide white calcite, and some is waxed or oiled. Britannica warns that much material sold as lapis is dyed jasper from Germany, with clear quartz specks and never any pyrite. The trade calls it "Swiss lapis" or "German lapis." Dyed howlite and magnesite also pass as lapis, and some fakes carry added metallic specks, so gold flecks alone prove nothing.
GIA rates lapis 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale depending on its mix of minerals, while an earlier GIA study gives 5.5. Clean it only with warm, soapy water. Keep it from steam and ultrasonic cleaners, heat, and solvents such as nail polish remover, which can lift dye and break down wax sealers.
Lapis Lazuli at Buddha.store
Lapis turns up in our malas, in a ring and even on a red string. A few to start with:
- Lapis Lazuli 108 Bead Mala Bracelet
- Natural Lapis Lazuli Ring
- Amethyst Tiger Eye Lapis Lazuli Mala Set
- White Agate Mala Bracelet with Lapis
- Handmade Red String Bracelet with Lapis
- Aquamarine and Lapis Lazuli Enamel Fish Bracelet
See every piece in our Lapis Lazuli collection.
