“[The painter’s box is] a museum of curiosities from every part of the universe. For it, the minds yield their treasures, as well as the depths of the sea: to it come Arab camel, and English ox, cuttle-fish and crawling coccus in it the Indian Indigo lies next to the madder of France, and the gaudy vermillion of China brightens the mummy of Egypt.”

— George Field, 19th century color chemist