Red Dyes from West to East in Medieval Europe: From Portuguese Manuscript Illuminations to Romanian Textiles

Red is the color par excellence, its symbolism being linked with protection and magic through its primary attributes, fire and blood. It was the predominant color from the earliest times, certainly during the Greek and Roman periods and into Medieval Europe, until blue became a competitor around the 13th century. Mineral pigments, like iron oxides, were the first red sources, used to draw lines, dots, or spots on cave walls or stones. Later, other mineral red pigments were also exploited: Cinnabar, natural mercury sulfide, since the Neolithic, and realgar, arsenic trisulfide, in Ancient Egypt. Scientific investigation revealed that, although inorganic pigments were mainly used in painting, iron oxides and cinnabar were also the first available sources for coloring textiles. Plant dyes have been known since the Neolithic, exploited by people living in climatically mild areas rich in vegetation. Their use is strongly connected with two other fundamental textile processes: Spinning and weaving. Scholarly literature indicates Egyptian privet (henna, Lawsonia inermis) as the oldest red vegetal source used. Although widely known as a source of brown, the dried leaves, when powdered and treated with lime water, yield an intense orange red, which is efficient for dyeing the body — skin and hair — and textiles of animal origin. Madder (Rubia tinctorum or relatives) was the first dye to be reported from archaeological European Bronze and Iron Ages textiles preserved in the Hallstatt salt mines, Scandinavian bog sites, and other European burials. Apart from madder, the most widely appreciated red dye sources in the European Classical period were kermes (Kermes vermilio and K. ilicis), purple (species of sea snails from the Muricidae family), and extracts of red tree resins, as dragon’s blood (e.g. Dracaena draco, Dracaena cinnabari, and Daemonorops draco). These sources were used for textile dyeing and as organic pigments in paintings

Transition from Natural to Early Synthetic Dyes in the Romanian Traditional Shirts Decoration

The traditional shirt (“ie”) is the most well-known element of Romanian anonymous textile art. Apart from aesthetic and utilitarian roles, it has strong symbolic significance, mainly through the colours used for decoration. Very recently, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder (“ia cu altiță”) was introduced as a Romanian identity element as part of UNESCO heritage. Depending on the ethnographic area, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder has acquired special expressive particularities over time. Particularly relevant is that from Valea Hârtibaciului, an area of Transylvania in the very centre of Romania. Although sober in appearance with large fields of white plain weave, it is discreetly decorated with elaborated embroidery on the sleeve bracelets, over the shoulders and neck. Even the colour range and decoration motifs remain unchanged in time, evolution in the materials used and a subtle transition from natural hues to more strident alternatives were observed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For the present study, samples were taken from representative objects in the collections of the ASTRA Museum, Sibiu and Ethnographical Museum, Brasov, documented as belonging to the area of Valea Hârtibaciului and dated in the museum archives as from the late 19th and early 20th century. The textile materials and the dyes used in the shirts’ embroidery were monitored. Fibre identification was made by optical microscopy and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). Dye analysis was performed by liquid chromatography coupled with UV-Vis (diode array) detection, while some of the samples were also analysed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection (LC-DAD-MS). Dyes were extracted from the fibres by acid hydrolysis. Identification was based on data collected on standards, dyes and dyed fibres. For the early synthetic dyes, a dedicated library of references was built, which includes information relative to the most relevant representatives used between 1850 and 1900, the ‘Helmut Schweppe list’. According to the study, in the last decades of the 19th century, natural dye sources such as dyer’s broom, madder, Mexican cochineal and indigoid dyes were gradually replaced by early synthetic dyes: fuchsine (1856), methyl violet (1861), synthetic alizarin (1871), brilliant green (1879), azo flavine 3R (1880), rhodamine B (1887) and others

Liquid chromatography as analytical tool for the study of natural and early synthetic dyes in traditional Saxon textiles

Abstract Confirmed since the twelth century, the Saxon community in Transylvania developed over the years in a rigorous powerful society, with its own lifestyle, social, economic, cultural and artistic standards. Together with research in historic documents, this society is now revealed by material studies of eighteenth– twentieth century objects in the Emil Sigerius collection, preserved in the ASTRA Museum, Sibiu, Romania. Embroideries made in Saxon households as well as representative Saxon coats manufactured in workshops, and dated between 1892 and 1908 (years embroidered on objects), were studied in terms of dye analysis, in order to understand if adoption of new materials goes together with the stylistic improvements. Dye analysis were performed by liquid chromatography with UV–vis and mass spectrometric detection (LC-DAD-MS), nowadays the most appropriate technique for the characterization and identification of colour components in heritage textiles. MS detection, with a triple quadrupole mass analyser, was used to achieve clear identification of each dye in a complex matrix. Construction of suitable spectral libraries through studies on standard dyes and dyed textiles definitely improved the ability to detect natural and early synthetic with greater certainty. Identification of fuchsine (1856), methyl violet (1861), orange II (1876) brilliant green (1879), quinoline yellow (1881) and rhodamine B (1887) in textiles dated about 20 years after the dyes first synthesis prove that transition from natural to synthetic dyes in the Saxon community was very fast, especially for textiles made in specialized workshops. The analytical configurations used prove their competence in textile studies, based on natural and early synthetic dyes research, and promotes the use of advanced analytical techniques in heritage science applications

Natural Dyes in Embroideries of Byzantine Tradition, the Collection of Embroidered Aëres and Epitaphioi in the National Museum of Art of Romania

The medieval textiles collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR) has been in place since 1865 and nowadays preserves about 1000 medieval and pre-modern weavings and embroideries. These extremely valuable objects, dated between the 14th and the 19th centuries, are mainly religious embroidered garments and veils with special significance in the Byzantine li-turgy. Ecclesiastical embroideries of Byzantine tradition are characterized by a complex technique: metallic threads with a silk core, metallic wires and coloured silk threads are couched over padding on layers of silk and cellulosic supports so as to create relief through light reflection. The silk sup-ports and the sewing threads are coloured, mainly in red, blue, green and yellow hues, and analytical investigations of the dyes used in embroideries preserved in the MNAR, in the Putna and Sucevița Monasteries, have been released in previous studies by the corresponding author. The present work continues the approach with research into dyes in about 25 aëres and epitaphioi from the MNAR collection. Considering their privileged function in the liturgical ritual, these luxurious pieces embroidered with silver, gilded silver or coloured silk threads and decorated with pearls, sequins or semi-precious stones are the most faithful description of the stylistic and technological evolution of the art of post-Byzantine embroidery in the Romanian provinces. The data resulting from the present research will improve the knowledge regarding this topic. Dye analysis was performed by liquid chromatography with diode array detection, while fibres were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (with attenuated total reflectance) and optical microscopy. The biological sources identified—carminic acid-based dyes, redwood, dyer’s broom, weld, indigo-based dyes––will be discussed in correspondence with their use in the embroidery technique: support, lining and embroidery threads, together with other sources previously reported on Byzantine embroideries in Romanian collections, and in similar objects preserved at Holy Mount Athos

Dyes and biological sources in nineteenth to twentieth century ethnographic textiles from Transylvania, Romania

Abstract Liquid chromatography with UV–Vis and mass spectrometric detection (LC–DAD–MS) was applied to the identification of dyes and biological sources in samples from nineteenth to twentieth century ethnographic textiles from ASTRA National Museum Complex, Sibiu, Transylvania. The objects are part of the Romanian traditional costume and are among the first to be acquired for the museum collections, around 1905. Oral and written information mention such objects as homemade, with nearby materials, while literature mentions a significant number of local vegetal sources as being used for textile dyeing. The analytical protocol developed, based on the combined use of the UV–Vis and mass spectrometric detectors to associate the information and distinguish between major and minor dyes, facilitates a clear attribution of the dyes and biological source/sources used. Other techniques, such as X-ray spectroscopy and FTIR-ATR were successfully used to identify inorganic dyes, which may not be detected by LC–DAD–MS, as was the case of Prussian blue. A large number of biological sources was identified in the studied objects, both local and imported. The local sources identified include dyer’s broom (Genista tinctoria L.), sawwort (Serratula tinctoria L.), young fustic (Cotinus coggygria Scop.), Rhamnus berries, emodin based dyes (Rhamnus, Rheum, Rumex sp.) and woad (Isatis tinctoria L.), in perfect correlation with literature which states that local dyes were still in use in the period under discussion. Carminic acid containing insects (Dactylopius coccus Costa and Porphyrophora sp.) and redwood type Caesalpinia species should be considered a result of trade. Almost all the natural and synthetic dyes detected are frequently mentioned in a collection of recipes published by the Romanian Academy, in 1914. The richness in colours in belts, the use of insect dyes in shirts decoration and the large amount of cotton in shirts are illustrative for the owners’ status. The study provides a better valorisation of the Romanian traditional costume as witness of the rural society at the end of the nineteenth to beginning of the twentieth century and emphasizes the usefulness of chemistry in cultural heritage dedicated applications