From page 413 to page 418 is a recap of various ores and metals whose discovery and uses were recorded. The uses for these metals were not cosmetic, and it isn't until page 419 when their use for makeup began.
First documented in the 6th century, a ruler of the Northern Chou kingdom required the ladies of his court to have yellow painted brows. There is a bit of discrepancy from where the practice originates, as northern nomadic women have been known to paint their faces golden to replicated the statues of Buddha (Buddhism entered China around 688 CE), yet poets from the T'ang Dynasty (June 18, 618 CE – June 1, 907 CE) recorded that it was fashionable amongst women to have yellow foreheads.
The yellow forehead paint was most likely derived from massicot (lead-oxide), because other cosmetic products were being compiled out of lead during this time, but sulfur and pastes made from vegetables are also a contender for the yellow paint's ingredients.
The article continues on to discuss when cinnabar, other kinds of lead, and ochre began to appear in Chinese/Japanese architecture, paintings, and described in writing.
Page 425 talks about how lead appears in red cosmetics for Chinese women, but once again the documentation of the lead contexts is being debated. Writings by poets allude to the rouge being comprised of minium, safflower, and vermillion, nothing about lead appears in the poems. Pink powders were also referenced in Chinese poems, sometimes used to indicate a woman or a courtesan. While the term hung chi'en or 'pink lead' appears in one of the poems, it could be a reference to safflower, mixed with a white rice powder or white ceruse (white lead).
Poetry about women often make use of the expression hung-fen, "pink powder". This often becomes even a metaphor for 'woman' or 'courtesan'. It occurs, for instance, in one of the well known "Nineteen Ancient Poems. (Schafer, 426)
The contradiction on whether the makeup was comprised from lead, or less toxic ingredients, all boils down to the translation. There seems to be a discrepancy from the perspective of scientists, who can document when certain metals were available and manufactured for such uses in China, meanwhile the poets who recorded their uses never specifically describe a lead ingredient, unlike the Romans.
The Romans and Chinese used the same mixture of white lead and vinegar. There are a few translations to this mixture, which entirely depended on who, what, and when the uses of the make up was being recorded:
powdered tin
dissolved tin
lead powder
flower of lead
fixed powder
tile powder
white powder
shining powder
watery powder
official powder
powder of Ch'en
powder of Shao
and powder of Kuei.
Alchemists recorded experimentation with lead and creating powders, and testing concluded that whitewash on ancient building walls was compiled of white lead. But after the Han dynasty, they began to use lime in wall painting, which could hint to ceruse's decline in cosmetic use as well, yet a writer named I Shih-Chen who lived in the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) described lead and mercury being used by court ladies:
"The Yellow Theocrat (Huang-ti), by refining, achieved gold and cinnabar-elixirs. The drugs left over from the refining were mercury, pinker than the red sunset-clouds, and lead, whiter than the pure-white snow. His Palatane women took the mercury to tint their lips, so that their lips were vermeil, and took the lead to spread on their faces, so that their faces were white. Thus when they washed them, these did not fall away. Later generations copied them in applying grease and powder, which is laughable in the extreme."
Speculation of the use of lead continues in the article, and an ancient poem coupled with a recent archeological dig found cosmetic cases of white lead powder. The use of the white lead powder on the face, and application to the breast continued into the Tang Dynasty, where the cosmetic was no longer just used by the aristocracy but used by women of all classes. It was in this dynasty when it's use migrated to Japan as well.
So what I gathered from the article is, you really need to have an understanding of metals and ores (and their discoveries) to comprehend the beginnings of the world's cosmetics. Additionally, translation plays a big part in the documentation and exploration of what the make up was made out of.
Additionally, it appears that makeup appears to always begin in the upper classes of court women and courtesans, eventually migrating to the low economic classes. From the writings of Greek and Roman poets, and I Shih-Chen's recording of the court ladies' cosmetics, it appears that men have some sort of disdain toward women painting their faces.
If men prefer women with unpainted faces, who has been pushing the cosmetic industry since it's inception? Is it women?
Works cited:
The Early History of Lead Pigments and Cosmetics in China
Edward H. Schafer
T'oung Pao
Second Series, Vol. 44, Livr. 4/5 (1956), pp. 413-438 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4527434
"History of China." Travel China Guide. N.p., 1998 - 2011. Web. 8 Oct 2011.
"Important Ore Minerals." Collector's Corner. Mineralogical Society of America, 1997 - 2011. Web. 8 Oct 2011.
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