Minerals - Cinnabar - English Italian Hand

"The deep red crystals nestled in the white matrix of white quartz and mica is cinnabar. Cinnabar is mercury sulfide and the most common mineral mined for producing mercury. Cinnabar is found all around the world wherever there are volcanoes which lead to the mineral's formation. Despite its toxicity, which has been known since antiquity, cinnabar's bright red color has been highly prized throughout history for making pigments for everything imaginable: cosmetic rouge, paints (commonly called vermillion), inks, Chinese red lacquer, jewelry, etc. The red "inks" of the rubricators found in mediaeval manuscripts was often derived from cinnabar.

I envisioned this cinnabar specimen from my collection as a sort of diadem nested atop calligraphic design. The meandering C is based on a French Bastarda, circa 1600. Its back-sloping characteristic was a common feature of many French capitals throughout the 1600s. The rest of the Italian Hand minuscules are composed of common later English (1760–1800) style. The spiral nature of the flourish-work is another 17th century French style that was adopted by later English penmen and remained a popular technique up through the American penmen of the 1800s."

~2016, Don Marsh~
©2016 Don Marsh