Minium (pigment) 300 B.C. It was known in the Han Dynasty (200 BC-200 AD) under the name "cinnabar of lead" ("ch'ien tan"), The process of manufacturing it was described in a Chinese manuscript of the 5th century. Minium was widely used for Persian miniature painting and Indian miniature painting. Minium (pigment) Minium, also known as red lead, is a bright orange red pigment that was widely used in the Middle Ages for the decoration of manuscripts and for painting. It was made by roasting white lead pigment in the air; the white lead would gradually turn yellow, then into an orange lead
Pigment purposes, including camouflage, mimicry, aposematism (warning), sexual selection and other forms of signalling, photosynthesis (in plants), as well as basic physical purposes such as protection from sunburn. Pigment color differs from structural color in that pigment color is the same for all viewing angles, whereas structural color is the result of selective reflection or iridescence, usually because of multilayer structures. For example, butterfly wings typically contain structural color, although many butterflies have cells that contain pigment as well. Pigment A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This