Hokusai, Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VII as Asahina and Ichikawa Monnosuke III as Tsukisayo, 11.20417

Safflower 紅花(benibana): An organic red obtained from the florets of Carthamus tinctorius, it produces a wide range of tones from pale pink to red. The florets are picked, washed, massaged, and fermented to create safflower cakes (紅餅 beni mochi) from which the red dye can be extracted later. Dried florets can also be used to extract the dye directly. The florets are first washed with water to remove non-lightfast yellow chromophors including several quinochalcones. The red colorant, primarily carthamin, is then extracted in an alkaline solution. Safflower was grown throughout Japan during the Edo period for use as a cosmetic and food dye. The area of Yamagata was known as a producer of high quality benibana and still produces it today.

Safflower can appear as a pale pink, such as the delicate pink used to depict subtle eye shadow or blush effects as well as deeper reds. Safflower was noted to be an expensive colorant and often required multiple printings to achieve darker colors. Safflower and madder are the most commonly found reds before the introduction of aniline dyes in the 1860's. Red safflower and madder are found as a single colorant or as a mixture of the two. Although the visual difference between red safflower or madder used alone and a mixture of the two is currently difficult to discern, madder may have been used to extend the safflower. Safflower is most commonly mixed with dayflower to produce purple. The safflower and dayflower combination 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: Safflower, Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) LC

Examples of Safflower in Ukiyo-e Prints

Actor Ogino Izaburo I... by Torii Kiyomasu

Rain in the Fifth Month by Ishikawa Toyonobu

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Nishikigi of the Kanaya... by Suzuki Harunobu

Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô V... by Katsukawa Shunko

Actor Sawamura Tanosuke II... by Torii Kunisada

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Seijûrô and Onatsu... by Keisai Eisen

Analysis

Excitation Emission Matrix (EEM) spectroscopy can easily identify the organic reds: safflower, madder, and sappanwood. Safflower fluoresces under UVA radiation and produces a unique EEM plot, even when the safflower has visually faded to a dull brownish red. In addition to the fluorescence for the red chromophor, the pattern often contained an additional peak for the yellow chromophore that was supposedly removed in the preparation of the red colorant but often needed several washings for complete elimination.

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  3D EEM plot for Safflower
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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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  Visible light and UVA for Red references

Other Images of Safflower

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  Safflower plant (Carthamus tinctorius)

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  Safflower petals

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  Safflower cakes

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  Paper dyed with safflower

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  Safflower colorant, by Isehan Honten

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  Cosmetic beni (Rouge), by Isehan Honten

List of Prints

Below is a list of prints where safflower was detected.