Historical Short-review on Dye (Color)

Figure 1: Dyes (colours)

Humans have been brightening for over 6,000 years, people have been dyeing their clothes with natural and synthetic dyes., dating back to Ancient Egypt. Throughout history, By adding distinctiveness to clothing, Gender has been symbolised or represented by order of colour, status, and fidelity. Initially, natural mineral and plant dyes were used. However, the discovery of synthetic dyes created an entirely new world of colour possibilities. We delve deeper into the history of death and the processes used to develop various dyes.

Archaeologists studying Natural dyes were classified into three species based on the earliest cling of life vibrant fabrics and essential ancient manuscripts: Natural dyes include vegetable or plant dyes, mineral dyes, and insect or animal dyes.

Mineral dyes were derived from minerals discovered on the surface of the earth and in mines To bring the imperative colors like Hematite for red, limonite for yellow, and lazurite for blue were procured for textiles. Groove the rocks produced a powder that could be mixed with water or oil and used. They can survive for years if properly protected because they are inorganic in nature and do not degrade over time like plant or animal dyes.

Vegetable dyes are made from tree and plant leaves, bark, or roots. Because they were pure to stumble on and flourish, they were the most recurrently used in antiquity. The red dye was made from madder, yellow dye from saffron and safflower, and blue and blueish-purple dye from indigo. Indigo-dyed items were considered affluent because they were hard to find.

Native Americans valued lichens as a source of natural dye and made yellow dye by boiling lichens in water. The ancient Greeks and Romans were also familiar with another type of lichen dye (orchil dye), which they substituted for the more expensive Tyrian purple. When the two dyes were compared, Orchil purple dye was less colourfast than Tyrian purple dye, and the end result was less vibrant.

Tyrian purple, also known as royal purple or imperial purple, was the most well-known shellfish dye, derived from sea snails in the Eastern Mediterranean's ancient city of Tyre. This dye was extremely valuable to all Mediterranean civilizations and had a long history of use. Because the colour it produced was extremely bright and colourfast, It was the most exorbitant dye in antiquity. It was only used by royals, members of the royal family, senior public officials, and priests due to its properties.

Figure 2: Born in the purple

According to archaeological evidence, the ancient Phoenicians discovered and used it first (Tyre was an important Phoenician city). It was passed down from them, it was brought to Byzantium and Medieval Europe by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was so valuable that Theodosius I, the Byzantine emperor, forbade the lower classes from using it or they would be executed.

 

The prerogative of using this purple dye is so intense that it inspired the phrase "born in the purple." It fell out of favour in Western Europe around the 12th century, and then again around the 19th century, when a synthetic purple was contrived, making it more widely available.