Historical and archaeological research has revealed the importance of colour for our forefathers in every aspect of life. Much of this colour was provided by dyes, initially from naturally occurring sources, later produced by chemical means to give colours of a brilliance hitherto unimagined. The papers published in this collection (supported by a generous donation from Abegg-Stiftung), all presented at Dyes in History and Archaeology meetings, demonstrate how dyes were used through the centuries. If one century is chosen – the 17th century, for example – a fascinating comparison can be made between the dyes and dyeing methods used in Europe, in Turkey, in South America and in Japan, not only on textiles, but also in the pigments used for painting.
Taking a different approach, chemical analysis has assisted detective work enabling a distinction to be made between rather similar 18th-century textiles with chinoiserie motifs, not all of which were Chinese in origin. Chemical research also shows how much we have still to understand: madder has been one of the most widely used dyes, for textile dyeing and also in pigment preparation, but why are madder pigments in 15th- and 16th-century paintings so variable in their composition? The methods of dyeing have been studied extensively, but the process taking place during the mordanting and dyeing of cellulosic fibres such as linen or cotton with alizarin, a major component of madder dye, is still a matter for discussion.
Over the long time scale covered in this book, many developments took place and are described in its pages. One of the most exotic of dyes, shellfish purple, was used in Late Bronze Age wall paintings dated to the 17th century BC at Akrotiri, while over 3000 years later the brilliantly coloured, but sometimes impermanent synthetic dyes, devised by chemists, appeared on the market: the azo dyes, fluorescein, the eosins and others. A long and distinguished history of the use of colour, a glorious variety of dyes revealed – the diversity of dyes in history and archaeology.
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The characterization of red-violet organic dyes in ancient samples
Alessia Andreotti, Maria Perla Colombini, Erika Ribechini, Aldo D’Alessio and Fabio Frezzato
Comparative studies of seventeenth-century Netherlandish red lake glazes in the Oranjezaal, Palace Huis ten Bosch.
Mark Clarke, Peggy Fredrickx, Lidwien Speleers, Ina Vanden Berghe and Jan Wouters
Peter Griess – a critical evaluation of his contribution to azo dye chemistry
Chris Cooksey and Alan Dronsfield
William Savage’s use of natural dyes in early nineteenth century printing inks
Brian H. Davies
The role of aluminium as a mordant for cellulose dyeing with alizarin: a numerical approach
François Delamare, Bernard Monasse and Michel Garcia
Arrabidaea chica: 3-deoxyanthocyanidins and their degradation products, found in Colombian archaeological textiles of the X–XVII centuries
Beatriz Devia, Marianne Cardale and Jan Wouters
The chemical characterisation by PDA HPLC and HPLC ESI MS of aged and unaged fibre samples dyed with sawwort (Serratula tinctoria L.).
Alison N. Hulme, Hamish McNab, David A. Peggie and Anita Quye
Europe or China? Dyestuff analyses as a tool for attributions
Anna Jolly, Ina Vandenberghe and Jan Wouters
Dyes in some textiles from the Romanian Medieval Art Gallery
Irina Petroviciu, Jan Wouters, Ina Vandenberghe and Ileana Cretu
Mapping colour changes in dyes and pigments due to light fading and ageing
Roy S. Sinclair†
Some Improvements in Natural Mordant Dyes Extraction for Their Identification in Historical Textiles by HPLC(DHA22)
Izabella Surowiec, Witold Nowik and Marek Trojanowicz
Thermochromic Behaviour of 6-Bromoindigotin: Key to Understanding Purple Dyeing with Banded Dye-Murex
Irving Ziderman, Yoshiko Sasaki, Masanori Sato and Ken Sasaki
The use of domestic dyeing lichens during the Age of Utility in Swede
Aki Arponen
A spectrometric and fluorimetric study of red madder on dyed wool.
Catia Clementi, F.R. Cibin, A. Romani and G. Favaro
The evolution of Mayan artists’ blue and greenish-blue palette: a colorimetric and experimental study
François Delamare, Sonia Ovarlez and Tatiana Falcon Alvarez
Bacteria of the medieval woad (Isatis tinctoria L.) vat.
Philip John, Paul A. Lawson, Sonja K. Nicholson, and Matthew D. Collins
Investigation of Tyrian Purple occurring in prehistoric wall paintings of Thera.
I. Karapanagiotis, S. Sotiropoulou, E. Chryssikopoulou, P. Magiatis, K.S. Andrikopoulos and Y. Chryssoulakis
Bright new colours: the history and analysis of fluorescein, eosin, erythrosine, Rhodamin B and some of their derivatives
Matthijs de Keijzer and Maarten R. van Bommel
Dye Analysis on Some 15th Century Byzantine Embroideries.
Irina Petroviciu, Ina Vanden Berghe, Jan Wouters and Ileana Cretu
History and Technology of Alum production in Belgium.
André Verhecken
Woad in Picardy,12th – 15th century
Bernard Verhille†
A multi analytical approach to determine madder lake in a funerary clay vessel found in a chamber tomb in Taranto
Maria Perla Colombini, Ilaria Degano and Erika Ribechini
The ABC of Isatans
Chris Cooksey
Madder Lakes: Composition and Variability
Jo Kirby, Catherine Higgitt and Marika Spring
Dye Analysis for the Modern Restoration of Haori with the Design of “Aoi Crests and Rabbits Jumping through Waves” from “Album of Textile Fragments of Tsujigahana Garment” (17thC) Stored in The Tokugawa Art Museum.
Yoshiko Sasaki, Tomio Koike, Toshiaki Yano and Ken Sasaki
Mr. Worth’s Woollen Yarns: A Victorian Book of Dyed Samples with Recipes
Terry T. Schaeffer
Dyes in History and Archaeology – The Early Years
Vincent Daniels
The Sakkos of the Emperor Ioannis Tsimiskis (?): A brief stylistic and analytical study.
Ioannis Karapanagiotis, Christos Karydis, Elpida Minopoulou and Costas Panayiotou
Determination of natural dyestuffs in historic textile with molecular spectroscopy and hplc coupled with diode array and mass-selective detection
Elena Karpova, Galina Balakina, Vladimir Vasiliev and Viktor Mamatyuk
Analysis of Dyes in Some Nineteenth Century Uzbek Suzanis
Richard Laursen and Xian Zhang
Analysis of Dyestuffs in 15th–17th Century Byzantine Embroideries from Putna Monastery, Romania
Irina Petroviciu, Ina Vanden Berghe, Ileana Cretu and Jan Wouters
Red Dye Analysis for Historical Textiles with Multiple Spectroscopic Methods, as an Example for Coptic Textiles stored in Nara Silk Road Exchange Museum
Yoshiko Sasaki, Junko Matsubara and Ken Sasaki
Chemical principles of a doomed technology: azomethine colour photography
André Verhecken
Medieval tinctorial plant trade in the north of Europe
Berhard Verhille†
An Appreciation of John Hamilton Edmonds (1931 – 2009)
Chris Cooksey
Imperial purple, Dye or Pigment
John Edmonds†
Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) Analysis of Natural Dyestuffs
Anne-Marei Hacke and Chris Carr
Mass Spectrometric and Liquid Chromatographic Investigation of Historical Fabrics from the Collection of The National Museum in Warsaw
Maciej Jarosz, Katarzyna Lech, Maria Puchalska, Ewa Orlinska-Mianowska and Elzbieta Rosloniec
Identification of Seventeenth Century Some Silk Skullcap by Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detection in the Topkapi Palace Museum Collection
Recep Karadag, Turkan Yurdun and Emre Dolen
De edera et lacca – Identification of a medieval colorant made from ivy
Christoph Krekel, Stella Eichner and Karin Geißinger
Dye analysis for 17thC Japanese historical textiles: Non-destructive approach
Yoshiko Sasaki and Ken Sasaki
Investigation of Dyed Rabbit Hair in a 16th to 17th Century Colonial Latin American Textile
Nobuko Shibayama, Elena Phipps, Lucy Commoner, Mark T.Wypyski and Mathieu Thoury
Is Red Truly the Colour of Love? The Functions of Colour in Polish Folk Attire
Joanna Minksztym
This volume is an excellent reference combining absorbing results on the historical production; use and social context of dyes in Europe, the Far East, and the USA; the science and conservation of dyes; as well as eye-attracting colorful pictures of dyes and objects.
...
Overall, this is another excellent volume uniquely focusing on historical and archaeological dyes and dyeing. It can serve a wide variety of users, including not only historians, archaeologists, curators, artwork conservators, and conservation scientists but also the wider ethnobotany field.
Economic Botany 72(2), 2018 pp246-250
... this book is a fascinating collection of well-written and well-researched
articles, diverse enough that it should warrant interest from both scientific and nonscientific
dye enthusiasts alike.
Jennifer Ratcliffe for Medieval Clothing and Textiles Volume 15, 2019 pp 185/186
