name given to it, since lapis lazuli does not occur in any of the countries immediately around the Mediterranean but only in countries far to the east. The principal ancient source was apparently in what is now called Badakshan.410 Whether the deposits of lapis lazuli in Badakshan were within the vaguely defined limits of ancient Scythia is doubtful. The name "Scythian" probably became attached to this particular blue pigment because it was exported to Mediterranean countries by Scythian traders, who had received it from still more distant peoples.
55. The Egyptian is the best for making pure pigments, the Scythian for those that are more dilute. In its usual form Egyptian blue frit has a more intense blue color than powdered lapis lazuli. The difference is not so marked when the size of the particles of the two pigments is about equal, but blue frit apparently was always prepared and used in the form of relatively coarse particles, as the examination of ancient specimens has shown. The color that actually results on grinding it to a very fine powder is a dull bluish-grey, as was determined by an experiment on a specimen of the material found in the excavations at Athens. All other ancient pigments were available and useful only in the form of fine powders, and, because of the great difference in the size of its particles, blue frit could not properly be mixed with other pigments. Any attempt to dilute it with a white pigment such as powdered chalk, in order to apply it as a tempera paint, would have been unsuccessful, for the coarse particles of the frit would settle and only the chalk would remain suspended in the paint.
55. The Egyptian variety is manufactured. Since there is no natural product that has the composition of Egyptian blue frit, it is certain that the Egyptian \yanos was always artificially prepared.
Although the composition of this pigment was investigated by chemists as early as the second decade of the last century, it was not until 1889 that its true nature was made known. In that year
410 Cf. the notes on kyanos in sec. 31.
