Safflower: Ukiyo-e colorant
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
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.
Images of Safflower
List of Prints
Below is a list of prints where safflower was detected.
Pages in category "Safflower: Ukiyo-e colorant"
The following 57 pages are in this category, out of 57 total.
E
- Eisen, Early Winter: The Day of the Boar in the Tenth Month, from the series Customs of the Four Seasons and Children at Play, 11.25587
- Eisen, Fujieda: Kichô of the Owariya, from the series A Tôkaidô Board Game of Courtesans: Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara, 11.17946
- Eisen, Seijûrô and Onatsu; Banners of Bishamonten; from the series Amusements on the Festival Day, 11.17904
- Eisen, The Song Evening Mist at Asama Peak, on Scrap-paper Fabric with an Itchû-bushi Libretto, from the series A Modern Pine Needle Collection, 11.17878
- Eishi, Shizuka of the Shizutamaya, from the series Beauties of the Yoshiwara as Six Floral Immortals, 21.4917
- Eishi, Shizuka of the Shizutamaya, from the series Beauties of the Yoshiwara as Six Floral Immortals, 53.21
- Eishi, Utamaki of the Takeya, kamuro Futaba and Midori, from the series New Year Fashions as Fresh as Young Leaves, 21.4912
- Eizan, Kashiku of the Tsuruya, from the series Array of Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters, 11.17716
H
- Harunobu, A Young Woman in a Summer Shower, 11.19430
- Harunobu, Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara, Combing hair (2006.1537.1)
- Harunobu, Courtesan and Kamuro Looking at the Face of a Komusô Reflected in a Mirror, 45.833
- Harunobu, Courtesan Reading a Letter by Moonlight Reflected on Snow; Parody of Son Kang, 11.19438
- Harunobu, Courtesan Riding a Carp and Reading a Letter; Parody of the Immortal Qin Gao, 06.969
- Harunobu, Kojima Bingo no Saburô Takanori, 11.19633
- Harunobu, Nishikigi of the Kanaya Lighting Incense beside a Mosquito Net, 11.16479
- Harunobu, Parody of Saigyô Hôshi: Courtesan Looking at a Screen Painting of Mount Fuji, 11.19431
- Harunobu, Poem by Saigyô Hôshi, from an untitled series of Three Evening Poems, 34.348
- Harunobu, The Sake Cup, sheet 4 of the series Marriage in Brocade Prints, the Carriage of the Virtuous Woman, known as the Marriage series, 11.19475
K
- Kiyohiro, Two Children Playing with Hobbyhorses, 11.19047
- Kiyomasu II, Actor Ogino Izaburô I as Yamagami Gennai, Acting in the Aragoto Style with the Sumikazura Wig, 11.13297
- Kiyomasu II, Actors Segawa Kikunojô I as Ochiyo; Matsushima Kichisaburô as Ochiyo's Spirit Projection, the Courtesan Tekkai Sennin; and Ichikawa Ebizô II as Mushanosuke of Ôsaka, 21.5452
- Kiyomitsu I, Actor Segawa Kikunojô II as Itsuki, 11.19020
- Kiyomitsu I, Actor Segawa Kikunojô II as Seryômura Okiku, 11.18992
- Kiyomitsu I, Actors Segawa Kikunojô II as the Courtesan Katsuragi and Ichimura Uzaemon IX as Nagoya Sanza, 45.832
- Kiyomitsu I, Actors Ôtani Hiroji III as Okabe no Rokuyata and Nakamura Sukegorô II as Inomata no Koheiroku, 46.1409
- Kiyomitsu I, Yoritomo's Hunt at the Foot of Mount Fuji, 11.19694
- Kiyonaga, A Matchmaking Meeting at a Teahouse by a Shrine, 21.5574
- Kiyonaga, Actors Matsumoto Kôshirô IV as Ukita Sakingo and Sawamura Sôjûrô III as the Ghost of Takao, with chanters Tomimoto Itsukidayû and Tomimoto Awatayû, and accompanist Sasaki Ichishirô, 11.13921
- Kiyonaga, Actors Matsumoto Kôshirô IV as Ukita Sakingo and Sawamura Sôjûrô III as the Ghost of Takao, with chanters Tomimoto Itsukidayû and Tomimoto Awatayû, and accompanist Sasaki Ichishirô, 21.5476
- Kiyonaga, Child Prodigy Minamoto no Shigeyuki Executing Calligraphy, 11.13883
- Kiyonaga, The Brine Maidens, from the series Current Manners in Eastern Brocade, 11.13880
- Kiyonaga, Women Visiting Enoshima, 11.21277
- Koryusai, Descending Geese at Mimeguri, from the series Fashionable Eight Views of Edo, 11.14627
- Kunisada, Actor Sawamura Tanosuke II, from the series Actor Rebuses, 11.42324
- Kuniyoshi, (Actor Ichikawa Ebizô V as) Inuyama Dôsetsu, from the series The Lives of Eight Brave and Loyal Dog Heroes, 11.28841
- Kuniyoshi, Hosokute: Horikoshi Dairyô, from the series Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidô Road, 11.28766
M
S
- Kiyonobu I, Actor Ôtani Hiroji I as the Candy-seller Kokusen-ya, 11.13165
- Kiyotada I, Actors Sanjô Kantarô II and Ichimura Takenojô IV, 11.13273
- Sharaku, Actors Ichikawa Komazô III as Kameya Chûbei and Nakayama Tomisaburô I as Umegawa, 21.7236
- Shigenobu I, Urashima Tarô, from the series A Set of Five Examples of Longevity, 21.9254
- Shinsai, Chapters 22–24, from the series The Tale of Genji, 11.20034
- Shunkō, Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô V as Fukurokuju, Iwai Hanshirô IV as Ryûyô Dôji, and Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Shin'yô Dôji, 11.14971
- Shunkō, Actors Nakamura Nakazô I and Ôtani Hiroji III, 11.2014
- Shunman, Mandarin Ducks and Iris, from the series Series of Seven Bird-and-Flower Prints for the Fuyô Circle of Kanuma in Shimotsuke Province, 21.9226
- Shunshō, Actor Segawa Kikunojô III as Shirokiya Okoma, from the series Fans of the East, 11.14871
T
- TEST-Utamaro I, Women Overnight Guests, a Triptych, 21.6328-30
- TEST-Utamaro I, Women Overnight Guests, left panel of triptych, 21.6328
- Toyokuni, Actor Arashi Kitsusaburô I as the Monkey Trainer Yojirô, in the Horikawa Scene of the Play Oshun and Denbei, 11.30331
- Toyonobu, Rain in the Fifth Month, 11.19048
- Toyonobu, Young Couple Burning Maple Leaves to Heat Sake, 11.19676
U
- Utamaro I, A Yoshiwara Triptych, 11.14191
- Utamaro I, Courtesan Asajiu of the Daimonjiya and Nanatsu-ume Sake by Momenya, from the series Aristocrats of Sake Compared to Courtesans of Six Selected Houses, 11.14267
- Utamaro I, The Geisha Ogie Matsuzô, Mine, and Ito, 11.14373
- Utamaro I, The Heron Maiden from series An Array of Dancing Girls of the Present Day, 11.14364