MASSIVE LAPIS LAZULI FREEFORM
Afghanistan
This exceptional sculpture has been fashioned and polished from one single massive piece of finest Afghan lapis. Lapis lazuli has been prized since ancient times - beads of it have even been found at Neolithic sites in the Caucasus. It was favored by the Egyptians, who considered it sacred to the goddess Isis, and used it for making amulets and scarabs. Cleopatra used ground lapis for her eye-shadow, and it was used to color the eyebrows of the funeral mask of King Tutankhamun. In later times, it was ground to provide the tempera pigment ultramarine, usually reserved for the most important figure in religious paintings, especially the robes of the Virgin Mary. This superlative specimen boasts the richest deep blue coloring, generously flecked, streaked and clouded with contrasting milky white calcite and glittering silvery pyrite. Of dramatically craggy, mountainous form, it measures approximately 37 x 24 x 6 inches and weighs over 300 lb, presented on a tapering rectangular-section marble base.