Safflower: Ukiyo-e colorant

Actor Sawamura Tanosuke II by Utagawa Kunisada

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 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 1860s. 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 additional information see: Safflower, Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) LC, Uemura Dye Archive: Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius (Kew)

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


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 contains an additional peak for the yellow chromophore that is usually removed during the preparation of the red colorant but it may have been difficult to completely remove since several washings was needed for complete elimination.