Cinnabar is a bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS) . It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the brilliant red or scarlet pigment termed vermilion and associated red mercury pigments. Cinnabar generally occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. It is deposited by epithermal ascending aqueous solutions far removed from their igneous source and is associated with native mercury, stibnite, realgar, pyrite, marcasite, opal, quartz, chalcedony, dolomite, calcite, and barite. Cinnabar has been used for its color since antiquity in the Near East, including as a rouge-type cosmetic, in the New World since the Olmec culture, and in China for writing on oracle bones as early as the Zhou dynasty.
Key facts about cinnabar include:
- It is a toxic mercury sulfide mineral with a bright red color that has been used as a pigment for thousands of years.
- It is the only important ore of mercury and is mined extensively for the production of mercury.
- Cinnabar is occasionally associated with native mercury, in the form of small metallic blobs perched on top or within cavities of the cinnabar.
- Aesthetic crystals of cinnabar, especially those from China, are very popular among mineral collectors.
- Some so-called "cinnabar carvings" may actually be wood pieces painted with cinnabar lacquer.
- Cinnabar has been known to be poisonous since ancient Rome.
