Cinnabar Red And The Ancient Chinese Visual Culture

Cinnabar is one of natural mineral colors. The chemical structure of cinnabar is Mercuric sulfide. Red mercuric sulfide used as a pigment. Cinnabar has been found in original tombs almost all over the world. In ancient China, cinnabar had been widely used in lacquer paintings, murals, paintings on silk, paintings on Xuan Paper, etc. Cinnabar is also the main component of cinnabar seal-ink, a kind of traditional Chinese medicine and is the principal ore of mercury. The characteristics of cinnabar interacted in ancient Chinese art activities. My graduation dissertation for A.M. based on the fact that the tone of ancient Chinese visual culture turn to cold colors from red and warm colors after Han dynasty. I use all kinds of method such as observation, analysis, generalization, summary to study and research painting materials especially cinnabar, the relationships between cinnabar and the ancient Chinese visual culture. I wish this kind of research can supply a better understanding for related issues in art history...