and the different Methods of preparing it, 279 



milk-white colour, a fare proof that it contains no iron ; and, 

 with inflammable fubftances, there is obtained from it a re- 

 gulus which has the appearance of a mixture of lead and 

 antimony. 



This article is brought from Naples for the mod part in 

 the form of an earthy cruft about three or four lines in thick- 

 nefs, and it fometimes retains the form of the veffel in which 

 it has hardened. It can be procured alio as a fine powder, 

 as the colourmcn keep it fometimes ready pounded tor ulc. 



How long this colour has been an article of trade I will 

 not venture to determine. As far as I know, Pomet is the 

 firlt druggift who mentions it; but he tells us that it was ex- 

 ceedingly fcarce. Kunekel, who has carefully enumerated 

 all the fubftances proper for colouring glafs, and for glazing 

 earthen-ware, does not, as far as I have obferved, take any 

 notice of Naples yellow ; but if names alone can afford any- 

 proof of antiquity, I would afieft that this colour was known 

 in Italy at any rate, about the end of the fifteenth century ; 

 for Ferrantc Imperatp ;,: , whofe book was firft printed in the 

 year 1599, %' s t ^ ia * " there are two kinds of giallolino, one 

 of which is produced from white lead by the firft alteration." 

 This paffagefeems to allude to the real Naples yellow; but 

 perhaps he only meant the yellow calx (axyd) of lead, or the 

 fo called maflikot. Refpetting the other kind, he gives no 



• Hifloria natuvale. Vcnctia, 1672. fol. p. 107: II giallolino si fa di 

 ceruffa nella prima alrcratione ; imita nel colore il fior di gineftra. Evvi 



tro giallolino, di cui tratteremo tra li fmalti e l'impetente. U mi- 

 nio moderno,o fandice de antichi, si fa dell' ifteffa ceruffa, e giallolino paf- 



;i maggior roffeza par la maggior cottura. In the Latin tranilation 

 printed at Cologne 1695, 4 t0 » t ^' s paffagecan fcarctly be known to be the 

 fame. Lib. iv. cap- 42, p. 137. : Flavum c cerutla in prima alteratione effi- 

 citur, florcm genifta; colore imitatur. Eft et aliud tlavi coloris genus, quo 

 de inter encaufta atque dealbationcs tractaturi funius. Minium moder- 

 num, vel antiquorum fandyx, ex eadem fit ceruffa, et flavo acriori coc- 

 tionc in majoreni rubidincm tranfmigrantc. I fufpeft that the term giallo- 

 lino was ufed earlier than the pigment to which that name has been cxclu- 

 lively applied. 



T 4 « cxpla- 



