Editing Lapis lazuli (section)

===Uses and substitutes===
Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewellery, carvings, boxes, [[mosaic]]s, ornaments, small statues, and vases. Interior items and finishing buildings can be also made with lapis. During the [[Renaissance]], lapis was ground and processed to make the [[pigment]] [[ultramarine]] for use in [[fresco]]es and [[oil painting]]. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended during the early 19th century, when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available.

Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gillson process, which is used to make artificial [[ultramarine]] and [[Hydrate|hydrous]] [[zinc phosphate]]s.<ref>Read, Peter (2005). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=t-OQO3Wk-JsC&pg=PA185 Gemmology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124003535/https://books.google.com/books?id=t-OQO3Wk-JsC&pg=PA185 |date=2016-11-24 }}'', Elsevier, p. 185. {{ISBN|0-7506-6449-5}}.</ref> [[Spinel]] or [[sodalite]], or dyed [[jasper]] or [[howlite]], can be substituted for lapis.<ref>[http://www.gemstonebuzz.com/lapis-lazuli Lapis lazuli] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027192333/http://www.gemstonebuzz.com/lapis-lazuli |date=2019-10-27 }}, Gemstone Buzz.</ref>

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File:Lazurite.jpg|Crystals of lazurite (the main mineral in lapis lazuli) from the Sar-i Sang Mining District in Afghanistan
File:Lapis lazuli block.jpg|A polished block of lapis lazuli
File:Natural ultramarine pigment.jpg|Natural ultramarine pigment made from ground lapis lazuli. During the [[High Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]] it was the most expensive pigment available (gold being second) and was often reserved for depicting the robes of [[Angels]] or the [[Virgin Mary]]
File:19th Century lapis lazuli and diamond pendant.jpg|19th-century lapis lazuli and diamond pendant
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