A COLOUR STUDY
Vermilion
HgS · cinnabar ·
朱
shu
The most enduring of the bright reds is
made from the marriage of two poisons —
quicksilver and brimstone, mercury and
sulphur — ground from a stone, or wedded
over a slow fire.
WHERE IT IS MET WITH
In the stone
— cinnabar: dull and heavy,
the colour of dried blood, until it is ground.
In the making
— mercury wed to sulphur;
the powder turns black, then sublimes to red.
In use
— the seal, the lacquer, the gate,
朱
;
a red once kept, like gold, for what mattered.
Two poisons — and it must be kept from the
light, or in time it darkens. Even so, it has
outlasted most of what it was laid upon.
nocturne · edition xiii · vermilion
made in the small hours of 23 June — Midsummer eve; tomorrow a red-letter day, and the page another colour
listen ·