Oropimente
Oropimente is a mineral with formula As₂S₃, in the Sulfuros group. This specimen comes from Nantan, Nantan, Guantxi, China and joined the Terrium collection in 2025.
Description
Massive orpiment forming a rock-like piece with abundant yellow powdery surfaces and minor red colouration.
About Oropimente
Toxic; handle with care. Do not inhale dust and wash hands immediately after handling. Orpiment, realgar and pararealgar are low-temperature arsenic sulphides, fragile and with a distinctive yellow–red colour range. They often occur together as yellow (orpiment) and red (realgar), sometimes with orange transitions on the same specimen.
About the locality
Nantan (Guangxi) is a classic commercial Chinese locality for orpiment–realgar combinations with yellow–red contrast. Material from here often circulates without a specific mine attribution.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0392
- Composition
- As₂S₃
- Name
- Oropimente
- Group
- Sulfuros
- Mine
- Nantan
- District / Municipality
- Nantan
- Region
- Guantxi
- Country
- China
- Size (cm)
- 4 x 3.5 x 2
- Acquired
- 2025
- Etymology
- From the Latin "auripigmentum", "golden pigment", referring to its characteristic colour. It appealed to painters and artists for centuries, but beyond its toxicity it had a serious drawback: chemical incompatibility with some colours. When mixed with lead-derived pigments, such as white lead, the paint eventually blackened. Many old paintings lost golden or bright details due to this chemical reaction between pigments.
- Quality
- Buena
- Value trend
- Estable
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