The present invention relates to a method for producing encapsulated metal colloids as inorganic pigments, characterized by the following method steps: a) reacting one or more glass-forming components according to the sol-gel method in order to obtain a sol; b) dispersing a metal salt in the obtained sol in the presence of an additional reductant in order to form metal colloids; c) transforming the obtained dispersion into xerogel-encapsulated metal colloids by spray drying; d) heating the obtained xerogel-encapsulated metal colloids in order to compress the xerogel-encapsulated metal colloids. The present invention further relates to inorganic pigments, in particular inorganic pigments that can be produced by the method according to the invention, comprising metal colloids, which are produced from metal salts and are encapsulated in an encapsulation, wherein the encapsulation is produced according to the sol-gel method from glass-forming components and is compressed to form a xerogel or glass, wherein the fraction of metal colloid in the capsules is at least 80%, preferably at least 95%, especially preferably nearly 100%.