A BLOCK OF MALACHITE

A BLOCK OF MALACHITE

Zaïre

21 cm long x 14 cm high. A beautiful specimen demonstrating deep greens accented by perfect halos.

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.