Long Before I Showed Up In Southwestern Silver Jewelry, I Was Popular With Russian Tsars and Renaissance Artists

LOOK AT ME. Focus on those dark and light green bands. Concentrate. CONcentrate … Do you see them expanding and shrinking to a psychedelic rhythm? Do you hear my name reaching out to you? Can you taste it under your tongue? No? OK, let’s try some more traditional clues: I’m a basic copper carbonate, take my name from a green herb, and long before I became popular in Southwestern silver jewelry — way, way before I was popular as a decorative inlay in the walls of Tsarist Russian palaces — I was used as a green pigment by Renaissance artists. In fact, I am probably the oldest known green pigment around.

Who am I?