140 Bice

: ON THE PRIMARY, BLUE.

Blue Bice, Iris, Terre Bleu, was prepared, when true, from the Armenian

stone, which is a calcareous kind of stone coloured with copper. It was

of a light bright hue, but is completely superseded by pale ultramarine.

The Persian lazur appears to have been a similar pigment, being a sort

of copper ore, which, when the stone was pounded and sifted, furnished a

fine paint, very bright and pleasant. It could not, however, stand the

effects of the atmosphere like the Tartarian lazur or lapis lazuli, in

the course of time becoming of a dark and dismal colour.



Ground smalts, blue verditer, and other pigments, have passed under the

name of bice.



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