
Afghanistan
No reserve
Auction Closed
July 17, 03:28 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Large Lapis Lazuli Tower
Afghanistan
14½ x 10¾ x 5¾ inches (36.8 x 27.3 x 14.6 cm). 71 pounds (32.2 kg).
Polished on all sides, this large lapis lazuli tower comes from the mines of Afghanistan, where lapis lazuli — "the stone the color of the sky" — has been mined for millennia. Containing the minerals lazurite, pyrite, and calcite, lapis lazuli features prominently in, among other artifacts, the funerary mask of Tutankhamun and — as the pigment ultramarine — in the paintings of Renaissance artists such as Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, and Rubens, among many others.
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