White pigments used in ancient art, spirituality and beauty include bone, limestone variations like chalk and other natural sources. Some carving stones are especially valued for pigmentation. The first three colors of the Paleolithic palette are black, red and white.
White pigments date back to cave paintings c. 200,000 years ago. White limestone, chalk or calcite walls make perfect backgrounds for colors. On darker paintings, white highlights the figures and catches the light.
Archaeological finds of artisan tools used by early people include an abalone shell used to contain pigment, and a quartzite grinding stone. Pigments like charcoal and red ocher are also found.
Early humans use crushed limestone varieties such as calcite, gypsum and chalk. Chalk white most famously comes from White Cliffs of Dover, England. The chalk cliffs at Dover are layers of soft, white, finely grained limestone accumulated over millions of years.
Artists use sticks, bones, fingers and brushes of horse hair to apply the color to the surface. Horses are originally hunted for food and eventually domesticated by c. 3800 BCE. Even today some paint brushes are made with horsehair.
A prehistoric cave habitation yields a wolf's leg-bone used as a drawing stick, with one end dipped in ocher. From minerals used in one painting or sculpture anthropologists can deduce the paths and directions taken by early people.
Paleolithic artists test and experiment with color. Red is used, especially ocher, but also hematite or heated goethite. A heating process indicates the interest early people have in expression and communication through color, and the chemistry of creation.
The paint color lead white is originally made with lead. It's a popular artists' color and house paint until the 19th century. Early methods of making lead white include placing lead shavings above vinegar in specially designed clay pots. The product is known as ceruse.
For hundreds of years lead-based white pigment such as ceruse is used to lighten the skin in ritual, fashion or cosmetic application. In Elizabethan times and later, lead white is applied to the face by elite men and women.
Both geisha and maiko (geisha trainees) wear traditional white foundation, oshiroi. In the past, the white makeup is made with lead. The women wear oshiroi due to the porcelain-like glow it gives the skin when applied in layers.
In the past, Kabuki actors also wear thick lead-based oshiroi. Makeup using lead is banned in Japan in 1934. Today's oshiroi makeup is a blend of ingredients crystal cellulose, talc and silk.
Lead white can also be toasted to create minium red, a popular paint pigment in medieval times and Middle Ages. It's often used in illuminated manuscripts.
Kaolin, kaolinite and china white are the same pigment, named for the region of the Gaoling or Kao-ling village, where the clay is found. This particular clay is coveted for porcelain and fine artwork.
Kaolin is also abundant in Europe and the United States. It forms the clay mineral Earth of Chios, from the Greek Island Chios, used in ancient medicine and alchemy.
Where ostriches roam, ostrich eggs make a good meal. The shells can be ground up and used as white pigment. Not only do they make a paint color, they're carved into ornaments or used as containers, or as palettes for paint.
No problem if the artist ingests some. The shells are non-toxic and high in calcium (97%). They're composed of magnesium, protein, selenium, strontium and other compounds said to be good for bones and joints. But first you have to get past the ostrich.
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