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Minium, also known as red lead or red lead oxide, is a bright orange red pigment that was widely used in the Middle Ages for the decoration of manuscripts and for painting. Often mistaken for less poisonous cinnabar and vermillion, minium was one of the earliest pigments artificially prepared and is still in use today. It was made by roasting white lead pigment in the air; the white lead would gradually turn yellow, then into an orange lead tetroxide. Minium's toxic color varied depending upon how long the mineral was roasted.

History

During the Roman Empire, the term minium could refer either to the pigment made from ground cinnabar or to the less expensive red lead. The name came from the river Minius in Iberia (now forming part of the Spanish-Portuguese border and known as Miño or Minho), located near the main Roman cinnabar mines. Pliny the Elder referred to it as flammeus, or flame color. "The minium of red lead was easy to make and less expensive than the pigment made from the mineral cinnabar, and it was bright and cheerful, so it became the most commonly used bright red in Medieval painting despite being poisonous, and sometimes turning black in impure air. The use of red lead phased out with the introduction of vermilion from the 11th century.

There was (and is) considerable confusion among the names of ancient and medieval pigments. As noted above, the term minium was used for cinnabar, vermilion, and for red lead. Minium of red lead was sometimes called stupium in classical Latin, adding to the confusion.

Minium may have been manufactured in China as early as 300 B.C. It was known in the Han Dynasty (200 BC-200 AD) under the name "cinnabar of lead" (ch'ien tan), The process of manufacturing it was described in a Chinese manuscript of the 5th century. Minium was widely used for Persian miniature painting and Indian miniature painting. Minium has also appeared in Egypt during the Greco-Roman period, which is surprising in a civilization that typically used red earth instead of red lead. The Romans used minium for writing the initial letters or titles in their books. It was also utilized for inscriptions since the paint showed up even on gold or marble.

Visual characteristics

Red lead acts as an excellent body and provides good hiding power to drying oil points due to its high density and fine texture. The pigment has a tendency to darken in watercolor and wall paintings, but is stable in oil mediums. Slight differences in color among various red lead can be related to the amount of unchanged litharge present and particle size.

Despite its name, red lead is usually more orange than red, strongly absorbing ultraviolet from 200 to 500 nm and reflecting in the infrared region.

Permanence

One of red lead's most cited drawbacks, other than its poisonous nature, is its tendency to darken in some circumstances. As a result, it is unsuitable as a pigment on frescoes and in watercolor. Red lead that has been partially or completely transformed to black lead oxide, has been reported on several medieval manuscripts, as well as Swiss wall paintings. Exposure to light and humidity are likely explanations for this darkening.

Notable occurences

Miniatures

The specialized labor required for manuscripts made them expensive, and they were typically commissioned by a powerful patron to reflect their piety and status, enabling decorations using minium pigment. The color was used in particular for the paragraph signs, versals, capitals, and headings which were colored red in medieval manuscripts. The Latin verb for this kind of work was miniare, to apply minium, and a person who did this was known as a miniator. These medieval artists also made small illustrations and decorative drawings in the manuscripts, which became known as miniatures, the source of the English word for small works of art.

Minium is commonly used in Russia, where it called Surik, Norway, India and China. Oil based red lead paints are used to protect ships, railroad cars and all sorts of steel constructions from corrosion. Minium bonds with iron creating a protective oxide layer that resists corrosion even in salt water.

Japanese paintings

Three Actors Playing a Scene, Torii Kiyonobu I. The red-brown robe of actor, lower right, is darkened red lead.

Minium is common on Japanese paintings of the Ukiyo-e school in the seventeenth-nineteenth centuries. The orange color is usually retained, likely due to the paintings being mounted on scrolls and subsequently rolled up and protected. However, some instances of brown red lead have been noted, as seen on Three Actors Playing a Scene on display in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington.

Cosmetics

Minium was used as a cosmetic outside of ancient Greco-Roman and China, with Pliny the Elder writing "minium is in great esteem in Ethiopia, their nobles being in the habit of staining the body all over with it". A pale, smooth complexion was much desired, likely as an indicator of social status. Rouge was the next most visible element, with minium being used as a cheap, bright, and easy to make ingredient for female cosmetics to create a blush.

Gallery

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  A sample of minium pigment, made by roasting white lead pigment
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  Solid minium

Red lead #FF4101
#FF4101

See also

• List of inorganic pigments
• Red pigments

References

Bibliography

• Thomson, Daniel (1956). The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20327-1.