Colors with Undefined Names 9. Caput Mortuum Color 146 - #592720
In alchemy,
Caput Mortuum
(alternately called nigredo) signified a useless
substance left over from a chemical operation such as sublimation and the
epitome of decline and decay; alchemists represented this residue with a
stylized human skull, a literal death's head.
The symbol shown on this page was also used in 18th century chemistry to mean
residue, remainder, or residuum. Caput mortuum was also sometimes used to mean
crocus metallorum, i.e. brownish-red metallic compounds such as crocus martis
(ferrous sulphate), and crocus veneris (copper oxidule).
|
|
Shown is some iron oxide | |
Return to Unusual Color Group - 1 On to Unusual Color 10 Carmine ⇨ |