Red - National Museum of Asian Art (2024)

The bright red of the rising sun in this work is likely the mineral cinnabar, a common ore of oxidized mercury found in veins associated with thermal hot springs or other types of volcanic activity. Once processed as a pigment, cinnabar is referred to as vermilion, though the chemical composition is identical. Until the discovery of cadmium red in the early twentieth century, vermilion was one of the most widely used red pigments around the globe, offering the most vibrant hue.

Auspicious Symbols: Crane, Rising Sun and Peach

Dressing and adorning sacred images remains a regular part of ritual practice in Nepal. Painting a sculpture’s surface was one such way to confer honor and respect for a deity. Scientific examination reveals multiple layers of pigment on Avalokiteshvara. Although the surface layer is more recent, the presence of cinnabar (mercury)—a mineral that is no longer used—in the underlying red indicates that the sculpture has been repainted over the course of many generations.

Bodhisattva White Avalokiteshvara (Amoghapasha Lokeshvara)

The actor Ichikawa Sadanji I poses dramatically against a wall of flames in a scene from the historical play The Kōshū War Strategy and the Takeda Clan Preparing for Battle. He holds a short sword by the blade, indicating that he intends to die by suicide rather than be taken alive by the enemy. The dramatic composition of this print recreates the tension of a kabuki play. Fire was a frequent threat in daily life in nineteenth-century Japan. Lead oxide in the pigment gives the illusion of smoky flames, and glittering mica on the sword blade shows the attention paid to printing.

Ichikawa Sadanji I as Akiyama Kii-no-kami, the scene of flames (yakiuchi no ba) from the series New plays of the Meiji-za (Meiji-za shin-kyogen) 「明治座新狂言　焼討之場　秋山紀伊守　市川左団次」

Perhaps inspired by the color of the flower in nature, deep copper-red pigment boldly outlines each floral petal on the body of this ewer in the shape of a lotus bud. It also accents sculptural details such as the tiny frog on the handle and the small boys holding lotus buds portrayed around the vessel’s neck. Celadons painted in red are exceptionally rare, as obtaining the desired color during the firing process was notoriously difficult. This example was no doubt produced at a kiln that was patronized by social elites.

Ewer

In the tenth century, eastern Iran and present-day Uzbekistan became the center for the production of some of the most remarkable epigraphic ceramic wares with moralizing proverbs in Arabic. These vessels are important not only for their message but also for their artistic and technical sophistication. The buff-colored earthenware body was covered with white slip (a semi-fluid colored clay) to create the ground color. For the design of this particular bowl, the artist used ochre and black-colored slips, and then followed up with a transparent glaze.

Bowl

Carved lacquer was highly esteemed at the fifteenth-century Ming court. Some of the most popular designs featured dense floral imagery and shared an overall sensibility with contemporary textiles, as well as with some decorated porcelains, especially those with reserve painted images. Textile designs appear to have influenced many Ming court arts. The rich red surface of the lacquer here suggests careful polishing to create a mellow effect. A bottom layer of mustard-yellow lacquer seen here is also observed in many early and mid-Ming lacquers. The motif of a mythical qilin—an animal with composite features, including the scales of a dragon and the hooves of a deer—symbolized a wish for the birth of sons. Associating the image with peonies, the flower of nobility and wealth, added a layer of meaning that was a portent for the sons to have great character and be successful.

Round covered box, wood with thick red lacquer

Swirling in distinct patterns of deep vermilion–colored red slip across the surface of this vessel, the spiral was a popular design for people of the ancient Ban Chiang culture in what is now northeastern Thailand. Pots like this one were ceremonially buried in gravesites along with the deceased. Sometimes they were laid intact over the body, or they were placed near the head and feet. It is not known whether they also served purposes in life or if they were made specifically to honor the dead.

Vessel on pedestal foot

Like many ancient legends, “Writing a Poem on a Crimson Leaf” has several versions, each with minor differences in detail. The main story takes place in the ninth century during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and concerns a court lady who writes a love poem on a red leaf. She then sets it afloat on the waterway that flows out of the palace. The man who finds the red leaf writes a poem in which he echoes his own longing for love, and he sends the leaf and the poems floating back to the palace. Of course, the same court lady chances upon the leaf and cherishes its poems. Later freed from her obligations to the imperial court, the lady is allowed to marry. On her wedding night, she happily discovers that her groom is the very man who wrote a love poem on her treasured red leaf. “Writing a poem on a crimson leaf” became a metaphor in Chinese literature to describe a happy marriage destined by fate.

Writing a Poem on a Crimson Leaf

In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), red connoted authority and status. The dynastic founder, Zhu Yuanzhang, was a rebel in the Red Turban movement when he established the Ming. He located his power base in the south, which was symbolically represented by red, and his surname, Zhu, means “vermilion.” His successors continued to be attracted to red and ordered ceramics of different sizes, shapes, and hues of red for their palaces. To create these vermilion dragons that emblemize the emperor, potters added iron oxide to the overglaze enamel.

Dish with design of dragons and clouds

In China, red is a symbol of the sun. The Ming emperors required red porcelain vessels for annual ceremonies at the Altar of the Sun, one of the four main imperial altars. This particular hue is the most challenging porcelain glaze color. The imperial potters had to meticulously control every aspect of glazing, firing, and cooling, including adding just a tiny amount of copper oxide to the glaze, to achieve such a sublime red. The impression of a velvety surface results from millions of unbroken bubbles trapped in the glaze.

Dish with copper-red glaze, and a Xuande mark in cobalt oxide on the base

Video | “Red so rare it was lost to time, a ritual Ming dish” | View on YouTube

Video | “Chinese Paper Cutting” | View on YouTube

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