We are pleased to offer four unique MUSSINI® specialties. We are happy that we were able to source these rare pigments. With these particularly precious, limited colours Schmincke offers oil painters the unique opportunity to add colours such as Shungite Black, Topaz Orange, Ruby Red or Lapis lazuli to their personal palette and to get to know colours based on mineral or semi-precious stones.

Lapis lazuli (10 488)

The colour lapis lazuli (it resembles ultramarine blue) contains real lapis lazuli obtained from the well-known semi-precious stone. Highly pigmented and semitransparent, it is a real rarity. The precious lapis lazuli, from which the pigment known as "ultramarine" was extracted, has been known since the 11th century. It can be found in temple paintings in India and China. In Europe it was used since the early Middle Ages mainly for church paintings. Today the colour Ultramarine is mainly produced synthetically. MUSSINI® Lapis lazuli, which Schmincke also rubs on the historic stone roller, gives the painter the unique opportunity to once paint with the genuine Ultramarine Lapis lazuli.

All MUSSINI® special colours are filled after 3 months of storage into the 15ml tubes. With the limited edition Schmincke offers oil painters some unusual specialties which are available since April as long as stocks last.

Topaz Orange (10 903)

The MUSSINI® Topaz Orange is an opaque, richly coloured and sparkling brown orange. Its pigment is extracted from the mineral phyllosilicate, one of the hardest naturally occurring minerals. 

Ruby Red (10 904)

The MUSSINI® ruby red gives the painter an opaque, bright, sparkling red. Its pigment is also extracted from the mineral phyllosilicate and belongs to the group of pearlescent pigments.

The ruby is a red variant of the mineral corundum, whereby the shade can vary between pale and dark red. The name ruby derives from the Middle Latin term "rubinus" for "the red". Already in the Bronze Age rubies are said to have been mined in Myanmar and the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans knew rubies as special stones.

Shungite Black (10 794)

The MUSSINI® Shungite Black is a deep, sparkling, strong coloured black of highest lightfastness with slow drying properties. Its pigment is obtained from real shungite. This makes it an unusual colour due to both the historical age of the shungite pigment and its sparkling appearance.

Shungites are black stones that were formed at least 600 million years ago, consist mainly of carbon and are found only in a few places in Russia (e.g. Karelia), Northern Finland and some areas in India. Shungites are used to produce black colour (icon-painting black), but also in polished form for jewellery production.