Dyes in History and Archaeology 43

A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408). This special issue belongs to the section "Museum and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 1482

Special Issue Editors

National Gallery, London, UK
Interests: pigments; paints; dyes; art history; artists materials; paint technology
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Guest Editor
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, UK
Interests: colours and colourants; pigments; dyes; textiles; sculpture; ancient painting techniques and craft practices; noninvasive techniques; multispectral imaging
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Guest Editor
1. School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
2. Society of Dyers and Colourists, Bradford, UK
Interests: natural dyes; mordants; natural dye history; colourants; textiles; cotton

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Guest Editor
1. Analytical Sciences, Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2. Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM), Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94552, 1090 GN Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Interests: dyes; organic pigments; analytical chemistry; degradation research; reconstructions

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Guest Editor
Institute of Medieval Studies (IEM), NOVA University of Lisbon, 1646-003 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: natural dyes; historical reconstructions; analytical techniques
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Guest Editor
Canadian Conservation Institute, 1030 Innes Road, Ottawa, ON K1B 4S7, Canada
Interests: dyes; textiles; amber; paint; archaeological residues; pyrolysis; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

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Guest Editor
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, UK
Interests: organic materials; chromatography; mass spectrometry; dyes; textiles; archaeological wood; Asian lacquers; Oriental art
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue features contributions from the conference DHA43. Dyes in History and Archaeology (DHA) is an annual international conference that focuses on the academic discussion of dyes and organic pigments used in the past. Every year since 1982, this meeting draws together conservators, curators, (technical) art historians, craftspeople, artists, scientists, and academics from museums, universities, research centres, and other public or private institutions. The aim of the conference is to bring these specialists together to delve deeply into the history, production, application, and properties of organic colourants, as well as their analytical characterization and identification. The focus is often on textile objects, but also on other substrates as well as painted surfaces.

The 43rd annual meeting was hosted in Leeds by the Society of Dyers and Colourists.

For more information about future meetings of the Dyes in History and Archaeology group, see https://www.dyesinhistoryandarchaeology.com.

Dr. Jo Kirby
Dr. Joanne Dyer
Debbie Bamford
Dr. Maarten R. van Bommel
Dr. Paula Nabais
Jennifer Poulin
Dr. Diego Tamburini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dyes
  • colourants
  • organic pigments
  • mordants
  • archives
  • crafts
  • industry

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5933 KiB  
Article
From Bark to Dye—Ethnographic Black and Grey Alder Recipes from Finland and Estonia
by Krista Wright, Debbie Bamford, Saara Tahvanainen, Liis Luhamaa, Riina Rammo and Riikka Räisänen
Heritage 2025, 8(5), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8050150 - 25 Apr 2025
Viewed by 287
Abstract
Ethnographic sources from Finland and Estonia in the 18th to early 20th centuries often mention alder bark as a dye source. The bark of grey alder (Alnus incana) and black alder (Alnus glutinosa) was used to dye wool and [...] Read more.
Ethnographic sources from Finland and Estonia in the 18th to early 20th centuries often mention alder bark as a dye source. The bark of grey alder (Alnus incana) and black alder (Alnus glutinosa) was used to dye wool and linen yarns reddish, paint leather red, and darken linen fishing nets. These recipes were simple folk craft and are not represented in dye books. Combining various sources, a selection of ethnographic and historical recipes was reconstructed through dyeing experiments to deepen the knowledge of alder bark dyeing practices and to recreate a colour palette based on past recipes. To understand the properties of the alder bark dye, the dyed textile samples were tested according to the ISO standards for washing, rubbing, and light fastness, and colour was recorded with the CIELab values. Our results show that it was possible to obtain different shades of brown, reddish brown, and dark brown. The colour fastness of dyed wool samples was moderate or good. Slight colour changes in the washed samples compared to the untreated ones were observed, which can be due to the standard’s heavily alkaline detergent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyes in History and Archaeology 43)
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20 pages, 17778 KiB  
Article
Refining the Production Date of Historical Palestinian Garments Through Dye Identification
by Diego Tamburini, Ludovic Durand and Zeina Klink-Hoppe
Heritage 2025, 8(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8010028 - 14 Jan 2025
Viewed by 987
Abstract
The dyes used to produce two Palestinian garments from the British Museum’s collection attributed to the late 19th–early 20th century were investigated by high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS). Palestinian embroidery is a symbol of [...] Read more.
The dyes used to produce two Palestinian garments from the British Museum’s collection attributed to the late 19th–early 20th century were investigated by high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS). Palestinian embroidery is a symbol of national identity and the topic of scholarly research. However, little attention has been given to the dyes and how these changed with the introduction of new synthetic formulations in the second half of the 19th century. The results revealed the use of natural indigoid blue and red madder (Rubia tinctorum), in combination with tannins. Yellow from buckthorn (probably Rhamnus saxatilis) and red from cochineal (probably Dactylopius coccus) were found mixed with synthetic dyes in green and dark red embroidery threads, respectively. Early synthetic dyes were identified in all the other colours. These include Rhodamine B (C.I. 45170), Orange II (C.I. 15510), Orange IV (C.I. 13080), Metanil Yellow (C.I. 13065), Chrysoidine R (C.I. 11320), Methyl Violet (C.I. 42535), Malachite Green (C.I. 42000), Fuchsin (C.I. 42510), Auramine O (C.I. 41000) and Methyl Blue (C.I. 42780). As the date of the first synthesis of these dyes is known, the production date of the garments was refined, suggesting that these were likely to be produced towards the end of the 1880s/beginning of the 1890s. The continuous use of historical local sources of natural dyes, alongside new synthetic dyes, is of particular interest, adding rightful nuances to the development of textile-making practices in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyes in History and Archaeology 43)
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