In the world of collectibles, cinnabar has become an object of both desire and fear with its unique red charm and long historical background. This substance, which has been used as a pigment and medicinal material since ancient times, is controversial due to its content of mercury sulfide. So, is cinnabar a “treasure” or a “poison”? Today, let’s delve into this question.
Cinnabar, also known as dansha or chensha, is famous for the bright red color of its powder, which remains vivid over time. In the “Book of Songs,” the phrase “face like a rich cinnabar” is used to describe a beautiful appearance, meaning a complexion as rosy as if painted with cinnabar. The history of using cinnabar as a pigment in China dates back thousands of years, when people ground cinnabar into powder and applied it to the inscriptions on oracle bones to make them more conspicuous. This rich and bright red color is also favored by painters, which is why Chinese calligraphy and painting are referred to as “danqing,” with “dan” referring to cinnabar. The essential “eight treasure printing mud” in the pigments for calligraphy and painting also has cinnabar as its main ingredient.
The main component of cinnabar is mercury sulfide, which is non-volatile and essentially insoluble in water, making its toxicity very low. In fact, cinnabar is harmless to the human body before it is transformed into vaporous mercury. The absorption rate of inorganic mercury in the human body is only 5%, while that of methyl mercury can reach 100%. Under anaerobic, sulfur-rich conditions, with a pH of 7 and a temperature of 37°C in a dark environment, cinnabar can produce methyl mercury when it encounters substances with methyl groups, and the human intestines just happen to have these conditions, thus increasing the risk of poisoning when taking cinnabar preparations internally. In short, solid cinnabar is not easily absorbed into the body, and as long as it is not ingested, simple skin contact is not a problem.
Moreover, cinnabar jewelry on the market is not made of pure cinnabar; most are mixtures of cinnabar powder and gelatin, with varying cinnabar content, some with high content and others with low content. Currently, the top purification technology can only purify cinnabar to 89%, and better cinnabar products on the market typically contain only a few tens of percent. Therefore, even with direct skin contact, it generally does not reach the standard of purity.
In conclusion, as long as it is not ingested, wearing and playing with cinnabar as jewelry will not harm our health. It can be both a “treasure” and a “poison” in the collectibles market, depending on how we use and treat it correctly.
Thank you for reading, and I hope this article can help everyone better understand the dual identity of cinnabar.