![]() It faded out of mainstream popularity around the 19th century, probably alongside the very much waning fascination with elephant vs. “ have continual warre against Dragons, which desire their blood, because it is very cold: and therefore the Dragon lying awaite as the Elephant passeth by, windeth his taile, being of exceeding length, about the hinder legs of the Elephant, and when the Elephant waxeth faint, he falleth down on the serpent, being now full of blood, and with the poise of his body breaketh him: so that his owne blood with the blood of the Elephant runneth out of him mingled together, which being colde, is congealed into that substance which the Apothecaries call Sanguis Draconis, that is Dragons blood, otherwise called Cinnabaris.”Īs freaking exciting as a battle between an elephant and dragon would be, the pigment was in actuality made from a Southeast Asian tree - though the story certainly helped hype it to outside buyers, and its blood red color was popular in the ancient world. ![]() The pigment known as Dragon’s Blood had the most epic and ridiculous of origin stories, a supposed mix of actual dragon’s blood and elephant’s blood. Andrew Dalby’s Dangerous Tastes chronicles this incredible story from the 16th century navigator Richard Eden: Mural in the Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii, said to incorporate the Dragon’s Blood pigment.
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