What is cinnabar wood?
Carved lacquer, which is predominantly red, is often known as “cinnabar” lacquer, a reference to the use of this powdered mercury sulphide as the primary colorant. Like all lacquer objects, carved pieces have a base that is usually made of turned wood: it is the lacquer that is worked and not the underlying material.
How do you clean old cinnabar?
The cinnabar piece may also just be plastic, just straight up plastic. When looking at cleaning strategies, you can get the mineral wet, and scrub at it lightly with soap and a brush.
Can you clean lacquerware?
While it is safe to clean lacquerware with water, don’t immerse it. The water can seep into the substrate that the lacquer covers and cause it to swell, and this can crack the finish.
What’s the difference between cinnabar and vintage lacquer?
Vintage and Antique Cinnabar. Cinnabar is often used to describe a Chinese style of carved, vermilion-colored lacquer. However, cinnabar is actually the name of a red mineral, a form of mercury (II) sulfide, used to dye the lacquer. While most cinnabar objects are a deep…
What’s the difference between cinnabar and Vermilion jewelry?
While the original mercury-based pigment was toxic to humans, more modern cinnabar jewelry uses a resin-based polymer instead. Cinnabar is often used to describe a Chinese style of carved, vermilion-colored lacquer. However, cinnabar is actually the name of a red mineral, a form of mercury (II) sulfide, used to dye the lacquer.
Why is the color red used for cinnabar?
Red quickly became the preferred color for lacquerware carvings, in part because the color has long been associated with good fortune in China. For the most elaborate cinnabar pieces, various colors of lacquer would be applied below its red surface layers, adding depth to a finished carving.
What is the meaning of the name cinnabar?
Cinnabar is often used to describe a Chinese style of carved, vermilion-colored lacquer. However, cinnabar is actually the name of a red mineral, a form of mercury(II) sulfide, used to dye the lacquer.
How many layers of carved cinnabar are there?
New pieces of genuine carved cinnabar lacquer in this article (Figs. 2-3) have an estimated 50-100 layers. Reddish-orange carved lacquer, or cinnabar, has been widely exported to the West for over three hundred years. Cinnabar continues to be made today in China.
Vintage and Antique Cinnabar. Cinnabar is often used to describe a Chinese style of carved, vermilion-colored lacquer. However, cinnabar is actually the name of a red mineral, a form of mercury (II) sulfide, used to dye the lacquer. While most cinnabar objects are a deep…
Are there permanent marks on a cinnabar carving?
Cinnabar being carved today usually has no permanent mark. Museum quality pieces are just that–in a museum and not at your local flea market or on eBay. And don’t get excited over Chinese characters on a piece. Most of those marks were applied to impress Western tourists and are on more reproductions than genuine pieces.
What kind of paint was used on carved cinnabar?
The copies were then painted with thick reddish-orange paint and sold as carved cinnabar. Slightly better reproductions were made by coating the plaster with a single layer of lacquer as a top coating. Another pre-1940 imitation was a type of red putty that was pressed in molds. This material was heat sensitive and often softens and blurs details.
