Lapis Lazuli Grape Cluster With Silver Leaf From Chile

Description

The National Stone of Chile, Lapis Lazuli, gorgeous deep blue color. This cluster of grapes has a silver metal leaf … more The National Stone of Chile, Lapis Lazuli, gorgeous deep blue color. This cluster of grapes has a silver metal leaf stem. (maybe nickel silver?). Hand cut and carved, it has a smooth polished finish. Each grape is unique and vibrant, excellent conditon.
(The last photo shows the other two pieces we also have for sale that was purchased with the grapes, they are listed separately) Beautiful small beautiful blues accent to be used anywhere, very versatile.

Chilean lapis is one of the oldest mining practices in the world, dating back over 7,000 years.
It is composed of three different minerals: lazurite, calcite and pyrite. It is the lazurite in lapis lazuli which gives it its distinctive blue hue, the calcite which causes white streaking, and the pyrite which lends it its gleaming gold flecks. The lazurite contains calcium, sodium, aluminosilicate and sulphur, and it is the charge transfer between the sulphur atoms which lends lapis lazuli its royal blue richness. When the stone is ground into a powder, it emits a strong smell of sulphur as a result. The darker the blue of the stone, the more valuable it is.
Fun fact- Lapis lazuli has been used to create some of the most beautiful artworks in the world, including the eyebrows of Tutankhamun’s death mask, and the ultramarine paint used in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. So expensive was ultramarine paint in the past, that many artists reserved it solely to depict the robes of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. less