Poppy seed oil

Description

A naturally, colorless, transparent drying oil obtained from the ripe seeds of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) native to the western Mediterranean region. Poppy seed oil contains the following fatty acids: linoleic (62-72%), oleic (10-30%), palmitic (9-10%), stearic (1.5-2.5%) and linolenic (0-5%) (Serpico and White 2000). Manufactured poppy seed oil comes primarily from India, Russia, France and Asia Minor. Cold pressed poppy oil is nearly colorless, but the hot pressed oil is reddish. Poppy oil dries slower than linseed oil, but it yellows less, so it was sometimes used with white pigments starting about the 17th century. It produces a soft, rubbery paint film with a long wet-in-wet work time that was popular with Impressionist painters. Thick layers of poppy oil paint films tend to wrinkle and crack on aging.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Papaver somniferum; poppy-seed oil (AAT); huile d'oeillette (Fr.); huile de pavot (Fr.); aceite de adormideras (Esp.); olio di papavero (It); poppy oil; poppyseed oil; opium oil

Physical and Chemical Properties

• Saponification number = 190-19
• Iodine number = 140-158
• Acid number = 1-10
• Density = 0.924-0.926
• Refractive Index = 1.469-1.477

Content of Fatty Acid of the Drying Oil after Hydrolysis (Phenacyl Bromide Esters % w/w Total Fatty Acid) (from Tarola et. al 2012)

Drying oil	Linolenic acid C18:3 % ± SD	Linoleic acid C18:2 % ± SD	Myristic acid C14:0 % ± SD	Palmitic acid C16:0 % ± SD	Oleic acid C18:1 % ± SD	Stearic acid C18:0 % ± SD
Linseed oil	58 ± 1.2	16 ± 0.8	–	7 ± 1.1	16 ± 1.8	3 ± 0.1
Walnut oil	8 ± 0.3	72 ± 1.5	–	6 ± 0.6	12 ± 1.1	2 ± 0.2
Poppy seed oil	8 ± 0.7	70 ± 0.8	–	9 ± 0.5	10 ± 0.4	3 ± 0.2

Resources and Citations

• Tarola, A.M., A.M. Girelli, S. Lorusso, "High Performance Liquid Chromatography Determination of Fatty Acids in Drying Oils Following Lipase Action", Journal of Chromatographic Science, Vol. 50(4), April 2012, Pages 294–300.
• Mills J.. "Composition and identification of dried oil film: The gas-chromatographic examination of paint media", Studies in Conservation, 1966, vol. 11 (pg. 92-106) Part I. Fatty acid.
• M.Serpico, R.White, "Oil, fat and wax" in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, P.Nicholson, I.Shaw (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 390-429.

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 564

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• M. Doerner, The Materials of the Artist, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1934

• Reed Kay, The Painter's Guide To Studio Methods and Materials, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983

• Thomas B. Brill, Light Its Interaction with Art and Antiquities, Plenum Press, New York City, 1980

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000