Paints have all sorts of names. Take "mummy brown" for example. It's actually real. And it dates back all the way to the 16th century. On Hyperallergic today, Allison Meier takes a look at the history of such paint. Here's a teaser from her list:
  • Indian Yellow, unique because it contained the urine of Bihar province cows that were fed only mango leaves and water (it was eventually outlawed).
  • Lapis Lazuli, the deep ultramarine that Yves Klein must’ve admired, made from the ground-up, eponymous precious gem (today, it goes for $360 per five grams).
  • Mummy Brown, the aforementioned pigment made from the ground-up remains of actual Egyptian mummies (both of the human and cat variety). “By the 16th century, despite legal restrictions, exporting mummies from Egypt to Europe to be ground up and used as ‘medicine’ was big business,” explains Art in Society. It was used up until the 19th century, when the supply of mummies ran dry.
Meier is updating her post with new colors as the tips roll in. Go read it here:[Hyperallergic]