The other substances employed in painting were indigenous to the country.

The white is made of gypsum, mixed with albumen or honey; the yellows are ochre, or sulphuret of arsenic, the orpiment of our modern artists; the reds are ochre, cinnabar, or vermilion; the blues are pulverised lapis-lazuli, or silicate of copper.
If the substance was rare or costly, a substitute drawn from the products of native industry was found.

Lapis-lazuli, for instance, was replaced by blue frit made with an admixture of silicate of copper, and this was reduced to an impalpable powder.

The painters kept their colours in tiny bags, and, as required, mixed them with water containing a little gum tragacanth.

They laid them on by means of a reed, or a more or less fine hair brush.