M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)
Analysis - TIMÁR-BALÁZSY Ágnes: Investigation of dyes on textiles from the collections of Hungarian museums
2. Dyes occurring on historical and ethnographical textiles 2.1. Plant and animal dyes Natural pigments are found as glucones or glycosides in plants, namely free or bound to glucose. The ratio of the two forms depends not only on the kind of plant involved, but also on the climatic conditions of the arable soil, the harvesting season, as well as on the method of extraction [20]. Finally, which and how much of a component of the dyes will be retained on the fibre depends on the dyeing procedure. Five dyeing procedures served for colouring textiles from antiquity till the 18th century: the "direct", the "acid", the "basic", the "vat" and the "mordant" dyeing. Dyes were obtained by the following procedure: the whole plant or only its leaves, flowers, root and fruits or the ground bark of trees were boiled or fermented. Two different types of animal dyes are known: excrements of some Gastropoda molluscs of the Mediterranean and sepia, and the dried bodies of some female insects living on cacti, oaks or other plants. While dyeing by the first type goes in a vet and photochemical way, the red dyestuff of insects is water soluble and can be used in a similar way as those from plants. From the point of view of identification, grouping on the basis of the chemical structure seems to be the most suitable : Carotinoides: crocetin (saffron), azafrin (safflower), bixin (annato), 3-carotine (beet root, marigold) [21,22]. Quinones: juglone (walnut), alkannin (alkanet), lawsone (henna) [21,22]. Anthraquinones: alizarin, purpurin, xanthopurpurin, rubiadin (madder, lady's bedstraw, wild madder, dyers' long-haired gromwell), munjistin (Indian madder), emodin, aloeemodin, frangulaemodin (aloe, persicaria, garden sorrel, alder tree), morindon (Soranji), kermesic acid (kermes, Polish cochineal), carmine acid (cochineal, Polish cochineal), laccaine acid (lack-dye), santalin (sandalwood), rhein (rhubarb) [21,22]. Flavonoides: apigenin (weld, dyers' anthemis, chamomile), chrisin (poplar), epicatechin (cuth), fisetin (young fustic), genistein (dyers' greenweed), kaempferid (galanga), kaempferol (branched larkspur), catechin (cuth), luteolin (weld, dyers' sawworth, chamomile, bear-berry), maclurin (fustic) morin (mulberry, fustic), quercetin (quercitron, onion-skin, Japanese sophora, horse chestnut), quercitrin (quercitron), rhamnetin, rhamnasin (Persian berries, buck-thorn), rutin (Japanese sophora, me) [21, 22]. Others: indigotin (woad, Indian indigo plant, acacia of Nile), gallic acid (oak apples, oak bark , dividivi, sumac , pomegranate , thee , chartaut, acacia of Nile , common beech, common white biroh, common ivy), brasilein (Brazil wood), haematein (logwood), orcein (orchil, litmus), berberin (barberry), curcumin (turmeric), rottlerin (kamala), chartamin (safflower) chelidonic acid (prickled poppy), fraxetin (taller ash), euxanthon (Indian yellow), violaxanthin (marigold), cyanidin (blaver, sambucus), cyanidin chlorid (blackthorn), delphydinin syringidin (bilberry, mallow) [21,22]. 2.2. Inorganic dyes There are two types of inorganic dyes known, depending on the process of dyeing: either the textile is immersed in the alkaline, acidic or neutral solution of metal compounds used in painting (e. g. oripment, cinnabar, etc.) [8], or the inorganic compound is developed on the fibre from its components (e. g. Prussian blue, chrome yellow, chrome orange) in the 18th and 19th centuries [23].
