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Lapis lazuli , also or , or lapis for short, is a deep blue semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Lapis lazuli was being mined in the Sar-i Sang mines〔David Bomford and Ashok Roy, ''A Closer Look- Colour'' (2009), National Gallery Company, London, (ISBN 978-1-85709-442-8)〕 and in other mines in the Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan as early as the 7th millennium BCE. Lapis beads have been found at neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania. It was used for the eyebrows on the funeral mask of Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BCE).〔Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce (ed.), The Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Universe Publishing, a division of Ruzzoli Publications Inc., 2003. p.310〕 At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. It was used by the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figure of the painting, especially the Virgin Mary.〔 Today mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Andes mountains in Chile. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States and Canada.〔("All about colored gemstones," the International Colored Gemstones Association )〕 ==Etymology== ''ラテン語:Lapis'' is the Latin word for "stone" and ''ラテン語:lazuli'' is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin ''ラテン語:lazulum'', which is taken from the Arabic ''lāzaward'', itself from the Persian ''lāžavard'', which is the name of the stone in Persian〔''Oxford English Dictionary''〕 and also of a place where lapis lazuli was mined. The name of the stone came to be associated with its color. The English word azure, Czech ', French ''フランス語:azur'', Italian ', Polish ', Romanian ' and ', Portuguese and Spanish ', and Hungarian ' all come from the name and color of lapis lazuli. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lapis lazuli」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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