The Chinese started using cinnabar colored lacquer to dye earthenware & ceramic pots into intense red works of art. The lacquer likely protected the user from the worst of mercury poisoning, but over time, it still would have been toxic.
#HistoryOfRed

The same red color is found in Renaissance art, where it was called vermillion, an old French word meaning "worm", referencing ancient use of insect 'Kermes vermilion'.

Here's Titian's "Assumption of the Virgin" 1518: the reds are all cinnabar based.
#HistoryofRed

Cinnabar was used in Indian culture.

Sindur, a dye used to mark the forehead of married women (as dot or stripes, as shown here). Today it's a synthetic version.

It's still used in the developing world for dying clothes, which exposes workers to high toxicity.
#HistoryofRed

This is a mural in the "Villa of the Mysteries" unearthed in Pompeii. The owner of the villa would have been displaying great wealth with this mural, as cinnabar / mercury ore was quite expensive, had to be shipped from Spain.

It does catch the eye, however.

I'll wrap up this thread and hashtag:
The next time you see "Chinese red", I hope you'll be reminded that it's a very particular shade that Europeans called vermillion (Latin "worms") and loved to use in paintings or cosmetics, but was actually mercury sulfide.

#HistoryofRed