Malachite the colour green (wadj) was associated with death and the power of resurrection as well as new life and fertility. Ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife contained an eternal paradise which resembled their lives but with no pain or suffering, and referred to this place as the ‘Field of Malachite’. Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800. The pigment is moderately lightfast, very sensitive to acids, and varying in color. This natural form of green pigment has been replaced by its synthetic form, verditer, among other synthetic greens. Malachite is also used
Mineral petrography), it may become transparent even if that property is not seen in a hand sample. In contrast, some minerals, such as hematite or pyrite, are opaque even in thin-section. Colour is the most obvious property of a mineral, but it is often non-diagnostic. It is caused by electromagnetic radiation interacting with electrons (except in the case of incandescence, which does not apply to minerals). Two broad classes of elements (idiochromatic and allochromatic) are defined with regards to their contribution to a mineral's colour: Idiochromatic elements are essential to a mineral's composition; their contribution to a mineral's colour is diagnostic.