At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments.
Ultramarine was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the Virgin Mary, and symbolized holiness and humility.
Lapis lazuli is a deep blue semi precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense colour.
Lapis lazuli was mined in northeast Afghanistan as early as the 7th millennium BC. Lapis beads have been found at neolithic burials in the Caucasus.