The Study of Chinese Dyes Recipes on Silk from The Ming Dynasty to The Republican Period

Abstract

The article presents a literature review of three Chinese manuscripts containing natural dyes recipes and three containing synthetic dyes from the Ming Dynasty to the Republican Period. The manuscripts mentioned were exclusively used as references and sources. Four databases were used to access the original documents, then, a translation from old mandarin to Spanish was made. For natural dyes, the results show four dyestuffs were commonly used to produce colors, sappanwood (Caesalpinia sappan L.), followed by safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), indigo (Indigofera tinctoria L.), and sophora (S. japonicum L.). While the synthetic dyes exported to or produced in China were mainly bluish, greenish, and violet probably because they were difficult to obtain from natural ones. The literature review of the dyes and their recipes can be a key factor in any art history or conservation study, improving the understanding of how the colors were achieved and as complementary information for analytical analyses. It provides useful details that contribute to the preservation of Chinese dye history on silk heritage.

Technical study on the early twentieth century’s embroidered women waistcoat in Gyalrong Tibetan area in Sichuan, China

“…It is documented that Huai Mi was collected from Sophora japonica over 10 years old, boiled in the water, dried and kneaded into a cake. It can be used directly or with metal mordant for home use [59]. Sulfuretin exists in many plants, such as smoketree (黄栌, Cotinus coggygria variants), Coreopsis spp.…”