Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s4.14

c9.s4.14

Even the best and darkest lapis lazuli contains a good deal of material which is not blue, such as calcite which is white, and iron pyrite which sparkles like gold. If lapis lazuli is powdered, then the result is disappointing as a pigment, as, unless the stone is unusually deep coloured, the powder is not blue at all but simply grey. Under a microscope, this powder may be seen to consist of a few particles of blue among a great many colourless particles. The blue cannot be separated from the impurities by washing with water. More complicated methods had to be invented in the Middle Age in Europe to extract good ultramarine from the lapis lazuli; and there is no documentary evidence to show that the necessary invention was known before the 13th century.³⁷