Posted on April 2, 2010.
What mineral was / is the China white paint that? (Please do not give me stupid answers relevant to the drug or restaurants. I ask about the paint / pigment here.)
At first I thought it was lead, but according to Wikipedia, white lead white lead allows Venice, aka Berlin Kremnitz, and Vienna white.
I found the phrase in an old book, but Google search it seems that some manufacturers still make house painting a shade of white with this name.
Watercolors have a white porcelain, I think, but I'm sorry, I do not know what the pigment was made from.