Skip to content
History of  Makeup The Evolution of Beauty Through TimeHistory of Makeup
East Asia

Chinese Makeup: Safflower Red, White Lead and the Painted Brow

Twenty-three centuries of cosmetic practice, recorded in tombs, pharmacopoeias and an unusual quantity of poetry about eyebrows.

The essaySafflower Red, White Lead and the Painted Brow

Read the full article8 min read
A Tang-dynasty woman in a high-waisted silk gown, hair in a tall coiled knot, a small ornament fixed on her forehead between short broad soot-black brows, rouge worked high on the cheeks, a cake of red rouge below.
Commissioned illustration
East Asia · 8th century BCE - 16th century CEBrow & Bloom
  • 11articles
  • 5moments
  • 8min read

East Asia: The Chronology

5 moments · 5 open an article

In short

Residues from bronze vessels at Liangdaicun in Shaanxi, dated to the eighth century BCE, were identified in 2022 as synthetic lead white made by precipitation in solution — a different chemistry from the corrosion method used in Greece, and several centuries earlier.

In East Asia

Brow & Bloom

11 articles across 4 collections

Showing all 11

Explore Further

Eras

The same question, at another time

Ingredients

What the face was made of