A SPECIMEN OF MALACHITE

A SPECIMEN OF MALACHITE

ZAÏRE

(26 cm in height). Presented on a red lacquered base. 

Malachite, a green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, was one of the first ores used to produce copper metal, and was used as a mineral pigment for green paints from antiquity through the beginning of the 19th century. In Russia, Malachite was the imperial ornamental stone par excellence. Beloved by the Tsars as both a symbol of royal power and religious devotion, the iconostasis of the Cathedral of Saint Isaac in St. Petersburg is frames by six columns of Malachite and two in Lazurite.