Azurite Crystals, China

Liufengshan Mine, Gucci District Chizhou Prefecture

Annuity Province, China

Lustrous dark-blue Azurite crystals hide within a pocket of matte Azurite and Malachite.

Both Azurite and Malachite have historically held great importance in the art world as sources of pigments. Malachite, with the pigment name of Olympian Green, has most notably been found in the paintings of Egyptian tombs and in paintings produced throughout Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. It is one of the earliest green pigments used by humans. Azurite’s pigment was used occasionally by the ancient Egyptians was not commonly used until the Middle Ages, when the manufacture of the ancient synthetic pigment Egyptian blue was forgotten. The stone’s name “Azurite” comes from a borrowed Persian word, lazhward, for blue. The name then became lazurium, to azurium, to azure.