Cinnabar with Dolomite

Unknown Owner

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An impressive and colorful Chinese Cinnabar with a contrasting matrix. At least two dozen, translucent, prismatic, vivid crimson colored crystals of Cinnabar to 2.0cm in length grace this small cabinet piece and are highlighted by a light colored, crystalline Dolomite matrix. The Cinnabar crystals are a saturated, dark red with good luster and the smaller crystals are more equant in form and the larger crystals are more prismatic and stand out well on the piece for their size, form and contrast resulting in a very pretty specimen! Some of the Cinnabars are twinned and ALL of them glow a vivid red internally! The crystals are very freestanding and 3-dimensional, rare in such quality. From finds at the Tongren Mine in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ex. Mervyn Ford collection with label. Ford was a well known aesthetics collector in England.