A complete Raman study of common acid red dyes: application to the identification of artistic materials in polychrome prints

A widespread belief among scholars and connoisseurs of the Japanese color woodblock print (nishiki-e) holds that synthetic dyes were imported from the West in the 1860s, and soon came to be used for all nishiki-e colorants during the Meiji period. These "cheap imported aniline dyes" are widely described as "gaudy", "garish", and "strident", and thought to stand in sharp contrast to more muted "natural" colorants that preceded them. This study calls this narrative into question through an analysis of the colorants of nishiki-e from 1860 until 1900, using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with micro-Raman, XRF and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopies. The results show that the introduction of synthetic dyes was gradual and selective, and that most of the customary colorants of the late Edo period continued in use. The results revealed a series of key turning points after 1860: (1) In 1864, the purple dye rosaniline became the first synthetic dye to be used in nishiki-e, at first in combination with Prussian blue for a more bluish color. From 1875, it was usually mixed or replaced with methyl violet for a stronger purple. (2) In early 1869, a dramatic and until recently unrecognized transition took place, from the longstanding use of safflower as the dominant red, to its total replacement by imported cochineal carmine. Carmine remained the primary red for the next two decades, often combined with vermillion. (3) In 1877, eosine appeared as the first synthetic red dye in nishiki-e, used alone for pink, and in mixture with carmine for red. (4) Finally, from 1889, a succession of red naphthol dyes of more striking color appeared. Just about this time, however, a tendency to more restrained use of color and more painterly effects began to emerge in nishiki-e, and with the exception of a burst of dynamic color in prints depicting the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), the uses of strong colors in Meiji prints receded. A final key finding is that colorants were often combined, either through mixture in a bowl or on the printing block, or by two-step overprinting.

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“…Signals of cotton scarlet Fig. 5A-c were detected at 1140 s, 1186 vw, 1238 s, 1420 s, 1443 s, 1464 m, 1500 m and 1596 vs cm −1 [33].…”

Section: The Appearance Of Naphthol Acid Red Dyes 1889mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Ponceau 2R is a mono-azo β-naphthol colorant, discovered by H. Baum in 1878. It can be identified by its characteristic Raman peaks at 474 m, 491 sh, 745 vw, 939 m, 1133 vw, 1245 vs, 1341 s, 1380 w, 1493 m, 1582 w and 1610 m cm −1 [33].…”

Section: The Appearance Of Naphthol Acid Red Dyes 1889mentioning

confidence: 99%

A timeline for the introduction of synthetic dyestuffs in Japan during the late Edo and Meiji periods

et al. 2018

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“…1 PB is also a chronological marker since it was introduced in the Japanese woodblock printing process at the end of the 1820s. Few analytical studies were conducted on such artworks [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] but the common use of indigo and PB in Japanese paintings, alone or mixed together, has been observed. [10][11][12] The majority of the studies conducted on 19th century ukiyo-e have also identified or have traced the presence of PB in blue colors as the primary or as in mixtures to obtain different shades of blue, green, and violet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A blue can conceal another! Noninvasive multispectroscopic analyses of mixtures of indigo and Prussian blue

Biron

Mounier

Bourdon

et al. 2019

Color Research & Application

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Blue colors were sparsely used in the first colored Japanese ukiyo-e prints but became predominant during the 19th century, mainly due to the integration of the synthetic Prussian blue in the palette of the printers around 1830. For a long time, researchers have assumed that the traditional Japanese organic blue colorants such as indigo were substituted by cheaper Prussian blue. Some analytical studies conducted on such artworks showed evidence of the common use of indigo and Prussian blue in Japanese paintings, alone or mixed together. Recent measurements carried out on bluish areas of an ukiyo-e designed by Utamaro showed the simultaneous use of the two pigments. However, if visible reflectance spectroscopy suggested the single use of Indigo, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) also indicated the presence of Prussian blue.These results question about the possible identification of all the pigments of a colored mixture by using a single analytical technique. Without using FTIR spectroscopy, the Prussian blue would not have been detected, whereas on infrared spectra the expected specific bands ascribed to indigo are not identified. The objective of this work is to investigate mixtures of pigments, using noninvasive spectroscopic techniques in order to assess their limits of detection. Fluorimetry, hyperspectral imaging, and infrared spectroscopies have been performed on three color charts made of indigo, Prussian blue, and mixtures of them at different proportions of matter. The results emphasize the systematic identification of Prussian blue thanks to infrared spectroscopy, whereas the identification of indigo, mixed with Prussian blue, appears to be more challenging. K E Y W O R D Sblue pigments, fluorescence, hyperspectral imaging, infrared spectroscopies, Japanese ukiyo-e prints

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“…The results obtained by the various Raman techniques were compared, and the main difficulties in the identification of the compounds in works of art were illustrated and discussed. In particular, fluorescence coming from the matrix in which the colorants are embedded can obscure their Raman signal, and for this reason, the advantages and drawbacks of SERS with nonsampling extraction of the colorants have been evaluated . Cesaratto, Lombardi, and Leona described tracking photo‐degradation of triarylmethane dyes with SERS.…”

Section: Art and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, fluorescence coming from the matrix in which the colorants are embedded can obscure their Raman signal, and for this reason, the advantages and drawbacks of SERS with nonsampling extraction of the colorants have been evaluated. [131] Cesaratto, Lombardi, and Leona described tracking photodegradation of triarylmethane dyes with SERS. Their work aimed in particular to investigate basic fuchsine, methyl violet, and crystal violet and their degradation products through SERS, exploiting its high sensitivity and minimal sample requirement.…”

Section: Pigments Dyes Paints Fibres and Inksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in linear and nonlinear Raman spectroscopy. Part XII

Nafie

2018

J Raman Spectroscopy

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This annual review is an overview of advances in the field of Raman spectroscopy as found in papers published in the previous calendar year in the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (JRS), as well as in trends over the past decade across journals that have published papers important to the field of Raman spectroscopy. This information is gleaned from statistical data on article counts obtained from the Clarivate Analytic's Web of Science Core Collection by year and by subfield of Raman spectroscopy. Additional information is gleaned from presentations at the XXVI International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS 2018) in Jeju Island, Korea in August 2018, and contributions on Raman scattering at SCIX 2018, organized by the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in October 2018. Coverage is also provided for topics from the European Conference on Nonlinear Optical Spetroscopy (ECONOS 2018) held in April in Milan, Italy and GeoRaman 2018 in Catania, Italy in June. Finally, papers published in JRS in 2017 are highlighted and arranged by topics at the frontier of Raman spectroscopy. On the basis of this survey information, it is clear that Raman spectroscopy continues as in recent years as a rapidly expanding field of research across a wide range of novel disciplines and applications that provide sensitive photonic information of matter at the molecular level.

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A complete Raman study of common acid red dyes: application to the identification of artistic materials in polychrome prints

Cited by 35 publications

References 22 publications

A timeline for the introduction of synthetic dyestuffs in Japan during the late Edo and Meiji periods

A timeline for the introduction of synthetic dyestuffs in Japan during the late Edo and Meiji periods

A blue can conceal another! Noninvasive multispectroscopic analyses of mixtures of indigo and Prussian blue

Recent advances in linear and nonlinear Raman spectroscopy. Part XII

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