Potter's Red Pigment

Description

Potter's Red (PR233) is a handmade single pigment chrome tin pink (often known as Potter's Pink), here selected in a warmer, red leaning tone. It is a ceramic chrome tin silicate pigment that produces a soft, muted red rose with a gentle, earthy undertone and a delicately granulating masstone. Compared to modern organic reds and quinacridones, this pigment is lower in chroma and distinctly more mineral, offering a quiet, brick rose color rather than a high intensity scarlet.

In use, Potter's Red gives a subtle, atmospheric red ideal for florals, weathered brick, terracotta, dried leaves, textiles, and gentle shadows in both landscape and figurative work. It has low to moderate tinting strength with a semi-opaque, strongly granulating character, making it especially beautiful in textured washes and layered passages. It mixes beautifully with yellows for dusty peaches and muted earth oranges, with violets and roses for delicate mauves and rose violets, and with blues and earth pigments for sophisticated, smoky neutrals and shadow tones that stay soft rather than harsh.

This chrome tin silicate pigment is chemically inert, heat resistant, and highly resistant to acids and alkalis, which makes it suitable across a wide range of binders and mediums. In artist's colors it offers a distinctive, historical feeling red rose that can function as a primary muted red on the palette, a subtle alternative to bright modern reds, or a mixer for palettes that favor nuance, texture, and quiet, atmospheric color.

History

Chrome tin pink pigments were developed within the ceramic industry as stable, high temperature stains for porcelain, tile, and glazes. By incorporating chromium into a tin silicate matrix and firing at high temperatures, chemists created gentle pinks, roses, and mauves that could survive demanding kiln conditions without graying or burning out. From this family of ceramic colors came the pigment artists now know as Potter's Pink and its warmer variants.

Originally used to give a soft rose and brick tone to pottery and architectural ceramics, this pigment eventually made its way into artist paints, particularly in watercolor, where its granulating, low chroma character became highly prized. Under names such as Potter's Pink, Potter's Violet, and Potter's Red, PR233 has gained a reputation as a connoisseur's color, subtle, textural, and uniquely suited to delicate, atmospheric work and historically inspired, earth toned palettes.

Pigment Information

Pigment Type: Synthetic (Inorganic) chrome tin pink (ceramic silicate pigment)
Source: Fired and ground malayaite compound
Origin: England (18th century)
Suitable Mediums: Watercolor, Oil, Tempera, Acrylic, Lime / Fresco, Ceramic and cement applications
Lightfastness: Excellent
Opacity: Semi-opaque, strongly granulating
Other Names: Potter's Red, Potter's Pink, Chrome Tin Pink (PR233)
Color Index Code: PR233

Health and Safety

• For art use only. Not for cosmetic, food or children's use.
• Keep out of reach of children and pets. Do not eat, drink or smoke while working.
• Avoid creating or breathing dust. Work in a ventilated area and wear a NIOSH approved dust respirator (P100 or better) when handling dry pigment.
• Wear gloves and eye protection. Wash hands and work surfaces after use, and never rinse pigment into drains.
• Do not spray apply, sand or burn.
• If swallowed or if you feel unwell, contact a poison control center (U.S. 1-800-222-1222) or a doctor.
• Safety Data Sheet available on request.