Malachite, Malachite, Malachite
The mineral malachite has been culturally revered for thousands of years. Used as personal adornment in ancient Egypt, the stone was also ground into pigment for tomb paintings and early European art. This green pigment was used in Renaissance painting and is believed to account for a portion of the green hues in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. It was not until the period of the Romanov’s rule in Russia that the stone took on the representation of luxury when a vein of malachite was discovered in the Ural Mountains in the late 17th century. The rage for this stone grew when it was used to veneer Russian palaces and places of worship. The symbol of luxury this mysterious mineral embodies continues today in jeweled tone table articles and accessories.