Editing Ultramarine (section)

=== Antiquity and Middle Ages ===
The name derives from Middle [[Latin]] {{lang|la-x-medieval|ultramarinus}}, literally "beyond the sea" because it was imported from Asia by sea.<ref name="OED" /> In the past, it has also been known as ''azzurrum ultramarine'', {{lang|la-x-medieval|azzurrum transmarinum}}, {{lang|it|azzuro oltramarino}}, {{lang|fr|azur d'Acre, pierre d'azur}}, {{lang|de|Lazurstein}}. The current terminology for ultramarine includes natural ultramarine (English), {{lang|fr|outremer lapis}} (French), {{lang|de|Ultramarin echt}} (German), {{lang|it|oltremare genuino}} (Italian), and {{lang|es|ultramarino verdadero}} (Spanish). The first recorded use of ''ultramarine'' as a color name in English was in 1598.<ref>Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 206</ref>

Ancient [[Egyptians]] used lapis lazuli in solid form for ornamental applications in jewelry, however, there is no record of them successfully formulating lapis lazuli into paint.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Patterson |first=Steven |title=The History of Blue Pigments in the Fine Arts: Painting, From the Perspective of a Paint Maker |url=https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/153-2-04Patterson.pdf |journal=Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales |volume=153 |page=167}}</ref> Archaeological evidence and early literature reveal that lapis lazuli was used as a semi-precious stone and decorative building stone from early Egyptian times. The mineral is described by the classical authors [[Theophrastus]] and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]. There is no evidence that lapis lazuli was used ground as a painting pigment by ancient [[Greeks]] and [[Roman people|Romans]]. Like ancient Egyptians, they had access to a satisfactory blue colorant in the synthetic copper silicate pigment, [[Egyptian blue]].<ref name="Plesters-1966-64" />

The first noted use of lapis lazuli as a pigment can be seen in 6th and 7th-century paintings in [[Zoroastrian]] and [[Buddhist]] cave temples in Afghanistan, near the most famous source of the mineral. Lapis lazuli has been identified in Chinese paintings from the 10th and 11th centuries, in Indian mural paintings from the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries, and on [[Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Normans|Norman]] illuminated manuscripts from {{circa|1100}}.<ref name="Plesters-1966-64" /> Ultramarine also appears in Islamic [[Illuminated manuscript|illuminated manuscripts]] from the 15th and 16th centuries throughout modern-day Afghanistan and [[Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exploring ultramarine |url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/libraries/our-work/conservation/exploring-ultramarine |access-date=2025-02-02 |website=www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>