This article examines, across a long durée(from prehistory to the Ming period), the continuous transformation of cinnabar(朱砂) in traditional Chinese society from a mineral resource into a pigment and further into a technical object that could be “refined and processed.” The guiding question is how material substances generate color cultures. To this end, it traces how cinnabar was understood, mobilized, and endowed with meaning in particular historical contexts by focusing on five spheres of practice: funerary rites, ritual institutions and state norms, court space and architectural polychromy, alchemical(煉丹) practice, and literati calligraphy and painting. The scope of this study is limited to cases in which the connection to cinnabar is confirmed or strongly indicated by textual records, technical manuals on manufacture and preparation, archaeological finds, and scientific analyses. Methodologically, terms such as “red,” “scarlet,” “vermilion,” and “dan (丹)” are treated at the level of hue and color naming(semantics), whereas materials such as cinnabar, artificial vermilion(銀朱), red lead(黃丹), shijianzhu(石間朱), and red earth(朱土) are treated at the level of substance. Depending on the nature of the evidence, the study applies a graded scale for material identification: (1) compositional analysis and residues, (2) records of manufacture and preparation, and (3) color terms and rhetorical description. The analysis shows that cinnabar’s symbolism was not determined in a linear way by the visual effect of “red.” Rather, it was continually reconstructed through processes of material selection, refinement and grading(including water levigation), circulation, ownership, and normative regulation within each sphere of practice. In funerary contexts, repeated treatments of soil layers and human remains positioned cinnabar as a medium of protection and regeneration, while in ritual institutions and court space, red coatings and polychromy were institutionalized as visual devices of power and order. In alchemical practice, cinnabar was repositioned as a central resource within discourses of “dan (丹),” becoming a focal object of both technical manipulation and esoteric theorization. In literati calligraphy and painting, its symbolic layers further expanded through the valorization of “orthodox colors”(正色), notions of proper and pure vermilion (正朱, 純朱), and their linkage with seal(印章) culture. Through these shifts, this study argues that cinnabar functioned as a nodal point traversing “material– technology–institution–representation.”

本文旨在从长时段视角(自史前至明清)考察中国传统社会中朱砂如何由一种矿物资 源，持续转化为可被‘冶炼—加工’的技术性对象，并进一步发展为颜料的过程。本文的 问题意识在于：物质如何生成色彩文化。基于这一问题，文章以四个实践领域为主 轴，追踪朱砂在不同时代中如何被理解、调动并赋予意义，即丧葬、礼制和宫廷建 筑、炼丹实践以及文人书画。不过，本文所讨论的对象，仅限于在文献记载、制作与 调配技术文献、考古出土资料及科学分析等材料中，能够确认或指向与朱砂相关的情 形。为此，本文将“红”“赤色”“朱红”“丹”等表述视为色感或色名(语义)层面，而将朱砂、 银朱、黄丹、石间朱、朱土等视为材料(物质)层面，并依据资料性质的不同，采用不同 强度的证据等级来判定材料的特定性：一级为成分分析及残留物证据，二级为制作与 调配记录，三级为色名与修辞性表述。 分析结果表明，朱砂的象征性并非由“红色”这一视觉效果单缐决定，而是在各类实 践中的材料选择、分级(水飞)、流通、占有与规范化过程中被持续重构。在丧葬活动 中，对土层与遗骸进行反复处理的行为，使朱砂成为保护与再生的媒介；而在礼制与 宫廷空间中，红色印章与彩饰则被制度化为权力与秩序的视觉装置。此外，在炼丹实 践中，朱砂在“丹”话语体系中被重新配置为兼具技术性与秘仪性的核心对象；在文人书画领域，通过与朱竹图像的结合，进一步拓展了其文人审美与文化象征的层次。本文 通过这些历史变动指出，朱砂作为一种关键节点，贯穿并联结了“物质—技术—制度— 表象”多个层面。

<차 례>
[内容摘要]
Ⅰ. 引言
Ⅱ. 朱砂的起源与制作方式
    1. 朱砂的起源与产地
    2. 朱砂颜料的制作方式
Ⅲ. 对朱砂的使用及意义
    1. 从丧葬活动看自然崇拜性的象征
    2. 通过礼制活动与宫殿营造所体现的王权象征
    3. 从炼丹术看“不死”象征
    4. 书画中呈现的⽂人象征
Ⅳ. 结语
▌参考文献
The Use and Symbolism of Cinnabar in China－A Material-Culture Study from Prehistory to the Ming Period－

• 文爱莲(高丽大学 考古美术史系 美术史专业 博士在读) | WEN AILIAN (PhD Candidate, Art History, Department of Archaeology and Art History, Korea University)