Why was lapis lazuli so valuable in ancient Egypt?
Lapis lazuli was so valuable in ancient Egypt because it had to be imported from the mountains of Afghanistan, more than 2,000 miles (over 3,200 km) away, which often made it the most expensive material in the Egyptian economy. It came through Mesopotamia, often as a gift from the king of Babylon, and it had religious meaning: the gods were believed to have hair of lapis. So it went into royal jewellery, statues of the gods and burials, and blue faience was probably made to imitate it.
Where did the Egyptians get lapis lazuli?
Not from Egypt. The Brooklyn Museum notes that Egypt imported its lapis lazuli from present-day Afghanistan, more than 2,000 miles (over 3,200 km) away, and that it was often the most expensive material in the Egyptian economy. The source was the mountains of Badakhshan. GIA calls the lapis mines there, which are still producing today, the world’s oldest known commercial gemstone sources. The Art Newspaper describes how miners piled wood against the rock face, set it alight and then threw water over it, so the rock cracked and the blue stone could be hacked free. The lumps then travelled along Near Eastern trade routes through Mesopotamia, often reaching Egypt as a gift from the king of Babylon. One of those gifts is written down. A clay tablet in the British Museum (E29786), one of the Amarna letters, is from Burna-Buriash II of Babylon to Akhenaten. He sends 2 minas of lapis lazuli and a necklace of lapis beads shaped like crickets for the pharaoh’s daughter Mayati (Meritaten), and complains that he received only 5 minas of poor-quality gold instead of 20. The trade was already very old by then: the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a string of lapis beads from a grave at Mahasna in Upper Egypt dated to about 3300 BCE, in the Predynastic period, before Egypt’s first dynasty of kings.
What did lapis lazuli mean in ancient Egypt?
It was tied to the gods. The Brooklyn Museum explains that because of its value lapis had symbolic and religious meaning: the gods were believed to have hair made of lapis lazuli. It was also carved into images of the gods. The Met’s cult statue of Ptah, the chief god of Memphis, is only 5.2 cm tall and carved in lapis around 945 to 600 BCE; the museum says details such as its brilliant blue stone express his titles, among them Lord of the Sky, and that its quality suggests it was made in a royal workshop. Lapis also went into burials as amulets. The Met holds a lapis heart amulet just 1 cm high and a lapis wedjat (Eye of Horus) amulet, both from the burial of Tiye at Deir el-Bahri, around 1080 to 945 BCE, as well as a lapis heart scarab from a Theban tomb of about 664 to 525 BCE.
Is Tutankhamun’s mask made of lapis lazuli?
Partly. The mask is gold, about 3,300 years old, and its best-known lapis lazuli is in the details: the eyebrows and the inlaid make-up lines around the eyes. The Art Newspaper traces that lapis to Badakhshan, and the excavation record cards, now at the Griffith Institute in Oxford, also list rows of lapis in the broad collar across the chest. The blue stripes on the headcloth look like lapis but are glass coloured to imitate it, and so is the inlay of the plaited false beard. The eyes are white stone with obsidian pupils. The mask (JE 60672) is now shown with the rest of Tutankhamun’s tomb contents at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, which officially opened on 1 November 2025. Royal jewellers were setting lapis in gold long before Tutankhamun. The Met’s pectoral of Princess Sithathoryunet, made around 1887 to 1878 BCE and found in her tomb beside the pyramid of Senwosret II at Lahun, is inlaid with 372 cut pieces of stone, among them carnelian, lapis, turquoise and garnet, and her treasure included an uninscribed lapis scarab. Photos of Egyptian lapis pieces from these collections are in our gem museum.
How did the Egyptians copy lapis lazuli?
With faience and Egyptian blue, two man-made blues. Faience is not a stone. It is a paste of powdered quartz, shaped, glazed and fired, and copper in the glaze turns blue in the kiln. The Brooklyn Museum says Egyptians probably saw that blue glaze as a way to imitate turquoise and especially lapis lazuli; their own word for faience, tjehnet, meant brilliant and dazzling. Egyptian blue, a copper frit that the Brooklyn Museum calls the world’s oldest synthetic pigment, was in use from the third millennium BCE and is thought to have imitated lapis too. It could be ground into paint, or pressed into a mould and fired into a whole vessel. Real lapis was often the most expensive material in the Egyptian economy, and a fired blue gave its colour without the stone. The copying never stopped, and our lapis lazuli page shows how to tell real lapis from today’s imitations and what grade names such as "Afghan" mean.
When was lapis lazuli used in ancient Egypt?
| When | What | Held by |
|---|---|---|
| About 3300 BCE (Predynastic, Naqada II) | A string of lapis beads from a grave at Mahasna, Upper Egypt | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (09.182.13a) |
| About 1887 to 1878 BCE (Middle Kingdom) | Princess Sithathoryunet’s pectoral, inlaid with 372 cut stones including lapis, from her tomb at Lahun | Metropolitan Museum of Art (16.1.3a, b) |
| 1300s BCE (reign of Akhenaten) | An Amarna letter: Burna-Buriash II of Babylon sends 2 minas of lapis and a necklace of lapis crickets | British Museum, London (E29786) |
| 1300s BCE (reign of Tutankhamun) | Tutankhamun’s gold mask, with lapis eyebrows and eye lines | Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza (JE 60672) |
| About 1080 to 945 BCE (Dynasty 21) | A lapis heart amulet and a lapis wedjat-eye amulet from the burial of Tiye at Deir el-Bahri | Metropolitan Museum of Art (25.3.172b and 25.3.172e) |
| About 945 to 600 BCE | A cult statue of the god Ptah carved in lapis, 5.2 cm tall | Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007.24) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did ancient Egypt have its own lapis lazuli mines?
No. Egypt imported its lapis lazuli from present-day Afghanistan, more than 2,000 miles away. It travelled along Near Eastern trade routes through Mesopotamia, and kings such as Burna-Buriash II of Babylon sent it to the pharaoh as gifts.
What are the blue stripes on Tutankhamun’s mask made of?
Glass, coloured to look like lapis lazuli. Real lapis is set in the eyebrows and the make-up lines around the eyes, and the eyes themselves are white stone with obsidian pupils.
Why did Egyptians say the gods had hair of lapis lazuli?
Lapis was imported from far away and was often the most expensive material in Egypt, and the Brooklyn Museum explains that its value gave it religious meaning: the gods were believed to have hair made of it. Lapis was also carved into statues of the gods, such as a small cult figure of Ptah at the Met.
What was Egyptian blue?
A man-made copper pigment that the Brooklyn Museum calls the world’s oldest synthetic pigment, in use from the third millennium BCE. It is thought to have imitated lapis lazuli, and it could be ground into paint or pressed into a mould and fired to make a vessel.
Sources
- Brooklyn Museum: How an ancient Egyptian blue has survived for thousands of years (2023; lapis imported from present-day Afghanistan, often the most expensive material, gods’ hair of lapis, faience and tjehnet)
- Brooklyn Museum: The many shades of ancient Egyptian pigments (2024; Egyptian blue as the oldest synthetic pigment, thought to imitate lapis, a vessel pressed in a mould)
- British Museum: Amarna letter from Burna-Buriash II to Akhenaten, E29786 (2 minas of lapis, cricket-bead necklace for Mayati, underweight gold)
- The Art Newspaper: Four things you probably didn’t know about Tutankhamun’s mask (4 October 2022; lapis eyebrows and eye make-up from Badakhshan, fire-setting, route through Mesopotamia, gifts from the Babylonian king)
- GIA: Lapis lazuli history and lore (Badakhshan mines still producing, the oldest known commercial gemstone sources)
- Griffith Institute, University of Oxford: Tutankhamun excavation record, object 256a, the gold mask (JE 60672; lapis-coloured glass stripes on headdress and beard, lapis inlay at eyes, eyebrows and collar, obsidian pupils)
- BBC News: Egypt’s Grand Museum opens, displaying Tutankhamun tomb in full for first time (1 November 2025; gold mask shown at the Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: Cult Image of the God Ptah, 2007.24
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: Pectoral and Necklace of Sithathoryunet with the Name of Senwosret II, 16.1.3a, b (372 inlaid stones)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: String of beads from Mahasna, 09.182.13a (lapis lazuli, about 3300 BCE)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heart Amulet from the burial of Tiye, 25.3.172b (the timeline also uses Met records 25.3.172e, 16.1.23 and 22.3.64)
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