Pigment, not what you would get if you made a pig out of cement, but it is instead the light reflecting particles used as the colourant in paints. As long as the human race has existed we have in some form or another been using pigments for decorative purposes. The ways we obtain these colours are as numerous as they are ingenious.
Lapis Lazuli is thought of as a semi precious stone, it is in fact a rich deep-blue metamorphic rock (metaphoric means it has undergone transformation by heat, pressure, or other natural occurrences).