If you are a person who knows how to paint, it is estimated that you are not unfamiliar with lapis lazuli pigments, which is an expensive pigment with a price more than gold, and its main raw material is lapis lazuli, and there are several countries in the world that produce lapis lazuli, but they are not as good as Afghanistan.
Compared with the lapis lazuli produced in Chile, the United States, Russia and other countries, the lapis lazuli in Afghanistan has very few impurities, the appearance and purity are extremely high, and after polishing, the blue presented is also a little gold and purple, which is extremely stunning.
Humans have a very long history of mining lapis lazuli, and in the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs dating back more than 6,000 years ago, there are scarab amulets made of lapis lazuli, and there are also many lapis lazuli on the gold mask of Tutankhamun.
Not only Egypt, such as the ancient India and the Two Rivers Valley, also treated lapis lazuli as a noble gemstone, and the vast majority of these lapis lazuli are produced in the lapis lazuli veins of northeastern Afghanistan, which shows the history of the development of lapis lazuli in Afghanistan.
After Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty traveled to the Western Regions, he brought back lapis lazuli from the Western Regions, and at that time, this exotic treasure was called "Golden Ant", and its main role was not for gem decoration, but as a pigment for murals.
Whether it is the tomb murals of ancient nobles or the world-famous Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, the central plains have a long history of using lapis lazuli for painting, because this pigment is not only beautiful, but also brilliant after thousands of years.
Lapis lazuli is a kind of rock produced by the combination of lapis lazuli, calcite and pyrite, etc. In nature, the formation conditions of lapis lazuli are very harsh, especially good quality lapis lazuli is more rare, and there are few countries in the world that produce lapis lazuli.
Among the limited production areas, the lapis lazuli in the Badakhshan Valley region of northern Afghanistan is the best in both appearance and any other aspect, and no lapis lazuli from other sources can compete with the lapis lazuli of Afghanistan.
The Silk Road is well known, but in fact, before the Silk Road, five thousand years ago, there was a "lapis lazuli road" in the hinterland of Asia because of the lapis lazuli trade, and the central area is today's Afghanistan.
It was difficult for people to obtain pure blue from natural plants in the early days, so lapis lazuli became particularly precious, and a large number of lapis lazuli products from Afghanistan were unearthed in places such as the ancient Fertile Crescent and ancient Egypt, and Afghan lapis lazuli was indeed famous.
For a long time in ancient times, lapis lazuli was also one of the few items that could be traded and exchanged with the outside world in the barren afghan region, because lapis lazuli was rare elsewhere, and the lapis lazuli in Afghanistan was even more famous.
Until now, more than 70% of the world's lapis lazuli supply comes from Afghanistan, especially gem-grade lapis lazuli, which is almost entirely from Afghanistan, which is also due to the quality of Afghan lapis lazuli and the long history of mining trade.