Natural History

A Lapis Lazuli Monolith

No reserve

Reserves

Lot Closed

December 3, 08:11 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 10,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

A Lapis Lazuli Monolith

Afghanistan

12 by 9 by 5¾ inches (30.2 cm x 22.8 x 15 cm). 41 pounds (18.6 kg).

A wide and angular monolith displaying shimmering bands of blues, blacks, and dark grays.

Lapis lazuli has been mined, manipulated, and coveted for nearly 10,000 years. From Asia to Europe to Africa, this intense blue metamorphic rock has been used in applications from jewelry to gunpowder to dental tartar to ultramarine pigmentation used by many of the greatest painters of all time. Perhaps one of the most beautiful specimen is housed in the Musée du Louvre in Paris; a cup in the form of a boat, having belonged to both Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.