- Caput mortuum
"Caput Mortuum" is a
Latin term whose literal meaning is "dead head" or "worthless remains" [cite book | last = Stone | first = Jon R. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations | publisher = Routledge | date = 2005 | location = | pages = p. 142 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0415969093] , used inalchemy and also as the name of apigment .Alchemy and chemistry
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.cite book | last = Eastaugh | first = Nicholas | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments | publisher =Butterworth -Heinemann | date = 2004 | location = | pages = p. 81 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0750657499]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 ). [cite book | last = Liungman | first = Carl G. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Symbols: Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms | publisher = Ionfox AB | date = 2004 | location = | pages = p. 236 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9197270504]Pigment
"Caput mortuum" (variously spelled caput mortum or caput mortem), also known as Cardinal purple, is the name given to a purple variety of
haematite iron oxide pigment, used in oil paints and paperdye s. It was a very popular colour for painting the robes of religious figures and important personages (e.g. art patrons).The name for this pigment may have come from the alchemical usage, since iron oxide (rust) is the useless residue of oxidization. It was originally a byproduct of
sulfuric acid manufacture during the 17th & 18th centuries, and was possibly an early form of thecopperas process used for the manufacture ofVenetian red andcopperas red [cite book | last = Harley | first = R.D. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Artists' Pigments: c. 1600-1836 | publisher = JG Publishing : Archetype Publications | date = 2001 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-873132-91-3]"Caput mortuum" is also sometimes used as an alternative name for "
Mummy brown " (alternatively, "Egyptian brown"), a pigment that was originally made in the 16th and 17th centuries from ground-upmummies , and whose use was discontinued in the 19th century when artists became aware of its ingredients. [cite book | last = Church | first = A. H. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Chemistry of Paints and Painting | publisher = Seeley and Co. | date = 1901 | location = London | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]Popular culture
In the
Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, "Caput Mortuum" is a legacy weapon; it is a grim, somber-lookingscythe with a haft of wood charred so badly that it resembles little more than charcoal. The blade is made of lusterless gray metal and is wholly unadorned, except for a lone glyph engraved on each side - a circle with three small dots arranged in a "V" shape. [cite book | last = Cordell | first = Bruce R. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Weapons of Legacy (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement) | publisher =Wizards of the Coast | date = 2005 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0786936886]ee also
*
Mummy brown Notes
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