Cinnabar
Videos
Cinnabar, or cinnabarite, also known as mercurblende is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the brilliant red or scarlet pigment termed vermilion and associated red mercury pigments.
Cinnabar mercury ore from Nevada, United States
Cinnabar crystals of an individual size of one centimeter, on quartz. Almadén (Ciudad Real) Spain. Coll. Museum of the School of Mining Engineers of Madrid
Chinese carved cinnabar lacquerware, late Qing dynasty. Adilnor Collection, Sweden.
Vermilion
Videos
Vermilion is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar. It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a modern form, but is 11% brighter.
A Chinese "cinnabar red" carved lacquer box from the Qing dynasty (1736–1795), National Museum of China, Beijing
Cinnabar crystals from the Almaden Mine in northern California
Cinnabar crystals on dolomite from Tongren Prefecture, Guizhou, China