Lapis Lazuli necklace

Beautiful bead and bar necklace from Madagascar 20” length with 1 3/8 “ Lapis Lazuli circle on end Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest opaque gemstones in history--more than 6,500 years! This deep blue stone includes tiny flecks of mica, like a night sky full of stars. Its most well-known source is deep in the mountains of modern Afghanistan. This stone's two-part name comes from two different cultures: lapis is a Latin word meaning "stone," while lazuli comes from the Persian word lazhuward, meaning "blue." It is not an element nor a mineral--it is a rock containing multiple minerals: lazurite, diopside, calcite, pyrite and more. Biblical scholars believe that references in the Old Testament to "sapphire" actually indicate lapis lazuli, as the sapphire gemstone was not known in the Middle East before the Roman Empire. Beloved by the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Minoans, Chinese, Greeks and up to the Romans, this deep blue stone has been used in the finest of art through the ages. One of the most famous uses of the stone is in the death mask of King Tutankhamen, where it is inlaid with turquoise and carnelian in the lapis lazuli mines way back in ultramarine--the blue used to paint the robes of Mary of Nazareth on church walls and ceilings like in the Sistine Chapel. Meanwhile, in carving, trading and warring over lapis lazuli from mines in what is now Argentina and Chile.