WHEN YOU
LOOK
Western Bluebird
A PIECE OF THE SKY
When you look at this lapis lazuli, you see unearthly beauty.
Lapis lazuli is a metamorphic rock composed of several minerals including lazurite, hauyne, sodalite, and nosean (Webster). Calcite inclusions create mottled white veins, and iron pyrites form starlike flecks in the blue rock (“Chilean Lapis Lazuli;” Webster). Paired with the dark blue lazurite, these inclusions complete lapis lazuli’s resemblance to the night sky.
Quite fittingly, the root of the rock’s name, “lazuli,” stems from the Arabic word for “heaven, sky, or blue:” lazaward (“Chilean Lapis Lazuli”).
Lapis Lazuli from Chili. Evans Gem & Mineral Collection, Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History.
Ancient cultures regarded the rock as sacred, as evident from its divine depiction in ancient literature, mythologies, and religions. Cleopatra dusted her eyelids with powdered lapis lazuli, and monarchs crowned themselves with lapis lazuli jewelry (Breau; “Chilean Lapis Lazuli;” “Lapis Lazuli Symbolism”). These uses reinforced the rock’s association with divine and influential beauty.
It is fitting that the bird whose Latin name is passerina amoena, or “beautiful sparrow,” inherited its name from lapis lazuli. Even in the form of a bird, lapis lazuli remains unbound to the earth (“Lazuli Bunting”).
Sassoferrato’s The Virgin in Prayer (mid-1600s), a beautiful painting of the Virgin Mary enrobed in rich, ultramarine-blue robes (Hoakley).
Furthermore, Renaissance artists used the expensive, coveted blue paint derived from lapis lazuli, ultramarine, to paint skies, seas, and holy figures in their masterpieces (Finlay). Immortalized in paintings and in ancient lore, lapis lazuli has a permanence comparable to that of deities.
By Mia Tsuchida
Works Cited
Breau, Amy. “Why Did Cleopatra Wear Makeup?” A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media, Moment of Science, 31 Aug. 2012, https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/cleopatra-wear-makeup.php.
“Chilean Lapis Lazuli: History, Products, Properties, Source, Care.” Chilean Lapis Lazuli: History, Products, Properties, Source, Care., Lazulita, https://www.lazulita.cl/.
Dimitri BECUE. Lapis lazuli seen through a microscope (x240 magnification). 3 July 2020 Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli#/media/File:Lapis-Lazuli_microscope_x240.jpg. Accessed 20 Nov. 2021.
Finlay, Victoria. Color: A Natural History of the Palette. Random House Trade paperback ed., Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004.
Greenberg, Doug. Lazuli bunting. Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/dagberg/34228975231/in/photolist-TC1RZd-2iVDzrV-2kWci2a-2iVjf4W-Uh5CNp-UijEJz-SZdycU-HeEnK8-U9GrPn-U2EfHw-bXoZaC-L48FT-bXnRbC-2kWrt1L-2kWf6VF-Uqe9bf-bT7yrr-UcZvCY-KaCCas-UbMpkd-LJ9Jw-cfVeKm/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2021.
“Lapis Lazuli Symbolism.” International Gem Society, International Gem Society LLC, 7 July 2021, https://www.gemsociety.org/article/history-legend-lapis-lazuli-gems-yore/.
“Lazuli Bunting.” Cornell University. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lazuli_Bunting/overview. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
Sassoferrato, Giovanni Battista Salvi da. The Virgin in Prayer. 1640-1650 Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Salvi_da_Sassoferrato#/media/File:Sassoferrato_-_Jungfrun_i_b%C3%B6n.jpg.
Webster, Robert, and Peter G Read. Gems: Their Sources, Descriptions, and Identification. 5th ed. / ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994.