CELADONITE
From celadonite -a mineral of complex silicate composition, rich in magnesium- we get a greenish colour about which storytellers, like myself, have lots to tell. In imperial China, there once was a colour known as mi se (it means mysterious colour) because it was forbidden for the common people to see it, allowed only for the pleasure of the court. It took centuries, till 1987, to be revealed when archaeologists found, in the ruins of a collapsed temple, a secret chamber full of mi se ceramics. Note that mi se in Chinese was used both for ceramics glazed with the mineral pigment and the celadon colour as well. For the rest of the world, the word celadon came after a hero of a popular romance,” l’ Astree”, in the 17th century. Monsieur Celadon wore pale green clothes, yet this is not the end of the story, since the french author had borrowed the name from a Greek, Keladon, who was saved by the Latin poet Ovid, in his “Metamorphoses” work… Earth, myths, literature, dig as you might, eternal Greece comes always in The End.
Chemical formula K(Mg, Fe2+) (Fe3+, Al) Si4O10(OH)2
