PEM E79076, embroidered silk shawl, China (19th century)
Artifact Information
Orange-red Chinese embroidered silk shawl. Early to mid-19th century.
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA USA. E79076.
Image of the embroidered Chinese silk shawl. photo by Chika Mori
Summary of results
HPLC profile of a low temperature (~50 °C) extract of fibers from a red 19th century Chinese silk shawl showed that both carthamin (red) and berberine (yellow) dyes were detected. Carthamin was most likely come from safflower and berberine from a plant that contains alkaloids, for example amur cork tree. [2]
HPLC profile
Absorbance at 450nm (mAU)
Identified compounds
| Compound | RT (min.) | MW | UV/vis | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| palmatine | 37.1 | 351 | 348,428 | major component |
| jatrorrhizine | 34.4 | 337 | 348,428 |
References
[1] Worth, S.(1986) "Embroidered China crepe shawls: 1816-1863; Dress 12:43-54.
[2] Xian Zhang,Karina Corrigan, Bruce MacLaren, Mimi Leveque, and Richard A. Laursen, Characterization of Yellow Dyes in Nineteenth Century Chinese Textiles. Studies in Conservation 52, 211-220 (2007).