Difference between revisions of "Category:Madder: Ukiyo-e colorant"

Madder 茜(akane): For ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Rubia tinctorum and/or Rubia akane was the primary red colorant used consistently for all of the time periods and printing methods.

A natural red dye extracted from the roots of any of several species of the genus Rubia. The most commonly used plants include: Rubia tinctorum L., native to the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, but cultivated across Europe and introduced into the Far East, America, and Africa; Rubia cordifolia L., native to India and southeast Asia, but very widespread; and Rubia akane Nagai, found in Japan and also China, Korea and Taiwan. Madder has been used as a colorant for dyeing textiles since ancient times in India, Persia, and Egypt.

In the Japanese prints, red regions containing madder were usually seen as brightly fluorescent during the preliminary examination of the prints with a hand-held UV light. Thus, it was no surprise that the EEM fluorescence technique provided a unique and definitive pattern for madder, but it was fortunate for our study, that the madder pattern was distinctively different than the EEM pattern for safflower

Safflower can be a light pink, such as the delicate pink used to depict the subtle eye shadow or blush to a deeper red. Safflower was noted to be expensive and require multiple printing to achieve a darker color. Safflower and madder are the most commonly found red until the introduction of aniline dyes. Red safflower and madder are found as a single colorant or as a mixture of the two. Although a visual difference between a single colorant red safflower and red safflower/madder mixture is hard to discern currently, madder may have been mixed to extend the safflower. Safflower is also most commonly used with dayflower to produce purple. This combination of safflower and dayflower is continuously detected even after the introduction of synthetic colorants such as Prussian blue and aniline dyes, which seems to indicate that the tone obtained by the two was preferred over other possible mixtures of reds and blues.

For more information see: Madder

Examples of Madder in Ukiyo-e Prints

Beauties of the Yoshiwara by Suzuki Harunobu

Beauties of the Yoshiwara by Suzuki Harunobu

Beauties of the Yoshiwara by Suzuki Harunobu

Beauties of the Yoshiwara by Suzuki Harunobu

Beauties of the Yoshiwara by Suzuki Harunobu

Analysis

Excitation Emission Matrix (EEM) spectroscopy can easily identify the organic reds: safflower, madder, and sappanwood. Madder fluoresces brightly under UVA radiation and produces a unique EEM plot,

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  EEM plot for Madder
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  3D EEM plots for Red references
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  Overlay of EEM curves for Red references
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  Overlay of FORS spectra for Red references
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  Overlay of Emission curves for Madder
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  Overlay of Excitation curves for Madder
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  Visible light and UVA for Red references

Other Images of Madder

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  Madder plant Rubia tinctorum L.

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  Madder root

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  Madder, akane

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  Madder powder (Rubia tinctorum)

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  Madder lakes

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  Dye mixtures from madder on paper

List of Prints

List of prints where indigo was detected