![]() Blue dye was also used to color the cloth in which mummies were wrapped. Blue was considered a beneficial color which would protect the dead against evil in the afterlife. ![]() It was often used in funeral statuary and figurines and tomb paintings for the Egyptian Kings and Queens. This pricey pigment was used to paint wood, papyrus and canvas, and was used to color a glaze to make faience beads, inlays, and various vessels. They used chemistry to combine lapis, which was ground into powder, with other ingredients to develop an expensive and highly sought after pigment called Egyptian Blue, and later ultramarine. they developed the first synthetic pigment It was at this time that an Egyptian word for “blue” emerged. Lapis also became highly prized among the Egyptians who valued the brilliant bright blue color of this magnificent mineral, and in about 2500 B.C. The cost of importing lapis lazuli by caravan across the desert from Afghanistan to the rest of the world was extremely high so only the wealthy could afford this beautiful blue stone. The mines were visited by Marco Polo in about 1271 he reported, “here is found a high mountain from which they extract the finest and most beautiful of blues.” In ancient Iran and Mesopotamia, it was used to make jewelry, decorations and vessels. Lapis Lazuli, a semiprecious stone, was mined in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan for more than three thousand years, and was exported to all parts of the ancient world. Blue dyes were made from plants usually woad in Europe, and Indigofera tinctoria, or true indigo, in Asia and Africa and Blue pigments were originally made from minerals such as lapis lazuli, cobalt and azurite. Blue was not used for dyeing fabric until long after red, ochre, pink and purple. Scientists generally agree that humans began to see blue as a color when they started making blue pigments about 6,000 years ago. Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago lack any blue color, probably because blue is rarely present in nature. The Color Blue in Ancient Timesīlue was a latecomer among colors used in art and decoration as well as language and literature. You can read all of the ancient Greek texts and you’ll never come across a word for “blue.” Even as the English language developed, blue took a distinct backseat to other colors it was the last color to be named. Digging a little deeper into the history of blue, historians concluded that the word “blue” did not even exist in ancient Greek times. The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu. Gemstone Meanings Metaphysical Gemstone Meanings & Index. ![]()
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