Lapis Lazuli

I had never heard of lapis until, age 15, I was studying Robert Browning's 1845 poem "The Bishop order his tomb at St Praxed’s Church". Exams, you know. Anyway, this Renaissance Italian Bishop (usual thing, rich and corrupt as heck, has several sons he calls "nephews") is at death's door. He wants a tomb that will be more glorious than his rival also buried the church, so he can gloat in death. Sad, eh?


Not a poem I recommend as an easy read but there's this bit, where he tells his "nephews" he's got a great chunk of lapis buried in his vineyard, and please put it on top of the tomb.


… Go dig 
The white-grape vineyard where the oil-press stood, 
Drop water gently till the surface sinks, 
And if ye find...ah God, I know not, I!... 
Bedded in store of rotten fig-leaves soft, 
And corded up in a tight olive-frail, 
Some lump, ah God, of lapis lazuli, 
Big as a head cut off at the nape, 
Blue as a vein o’er the Madonna’s breast... 
Sons, all have I bequeathed you, villas, all, 
That brave Frascati villa with its bath, 
So, let the blue lump poise between my knees, 
Like God the Father’s globe on both his hands 


So off I went to Italy to see what lapis lazuli was, wow, and here is some from a market (more local, more recent, much smaller).


I had another photo for today, and accidentally deleted it. Grrr.