TSG Chapter V. Analysis and Testing Methods for Textiles - Section D. Dye Identification

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Copyright: 2024. The Textile Wiki pages are a publication of the Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. The Textile Wiki pages are published for the members of the Textile Specialty Group. Publication does not endorse or recommend any treatments, methods, or techniques described herein.

Further Reading

Cardon, D. 2007. Natural Dyes: Sources, Traditions, Technology & Science. Archetype Books.

Casselman, Karen D. 2011. Lichen Dyes: The New Source Book. Dover Publications.

Chen, Victor J., Gregory D. Smith, Amanda Holden, Sadie Arft. "Dye Analysis of a 17th-Century Mattens Workshop Tapestry Based on Raphael's Drawing, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes." Heritage. Vol. 7, No. 3, pgs. 1221-1236. (mdpi.com)

Chen, Victor J., Gregory D. Smith, Amanda Holden, Niloo Paydar, Kathleen Kiefer. 2016. "Chemical analysis of dyes on an Uzbek ceremonial coat: Objective evidence for artifact dating and the chemistry of early synthetic dyes." Dyes and Pigments. Vol. 131, pgs. 320-332.

Degano, Ilaria, Donata Magrini, Marco Zanaboni, Maria Perla Colombini. 2017. "The Saltzman Collection: A reference database for South American dyed textiles." ICOM-CC 18th Triennial Conference Preprints. (icom-cc)

Dyes in History and Archaeology.

Hagan, Eric and Jennifer Poulin. 2021. "Statistics of the early synthetic dye industry." Heritage Science. Vol. 9, pgs. 33-46. (heritagesciencejournal)

Hofenk de Graaff, J., W.G.T. Roelofs, M.R. van Bommel. 2004. The Colourful Past: Origins Chemistry and Identification of Natural Dyestuffs." Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung and Archetype Publications.

Lackner, Rachel M., Solenn Ferron, Joël Boustie, Françoise Le Devehat, H. Thorsten Lumbsch, Nobuko Shibayama. 2024. "Unraveling a Historical Mystery: Identification of a Lichen Dye Source in a Fifteenth Century Medieval Tapestry." Heritage. Vol 7, No. 5, pgs. 2370-2384. (mdpi.com)

Lech, K., E. Fornal. 2020. "A mass spectrometry-based approach for characterization of red, blue, and purple natural dyes." Molecules. Vol 25. pgs. 3223-3245. (mdpi.com)

Lepot, Laurent, Kris De Wael, Fabrice Gason, Bernard Gilbert, Gauthier Eppe, Cédric Malherbe. 2020. "Discrimination of textile dyes in binary mixtures by Raman spectroscopy." Journal of Raman Spectroscopy. Vol. 51, pgs. 717-730.

Maccarelli, Laura, Terry T. Schaeffer, Gregory D. Smith, Victor J. Chen. 2024. "Components of Mid-Nineteenth- and Mid-Twentieth-Century Cudbears." Heritage. Vol 7, pgs. 1357-1371. (mdpi.com)

Poulin, Jennifer. 2017. "A New Methodology for the Characterisation of Natural Dyes Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry." Studies in Conservation. Vol. 63, No. 1, pgs. 1-26.

Pozzi, Federica, Lauren K. Chang, Francesca Casadio. 2014. "Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as a viable alternative technique for dye analysis: Application to the study of Navajo blankets from the Art Institute of Chicago collection." ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints.

Schweppe, Helmut. 1988. Practical information for the Identification of Dyes on Historic Textile Materials. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, Conservation Analytical Laboratory.

Sepúlveda, Cecilia Lemp Urzúa, José Cárcamo-Vega, Edgar Casanova-Gónzalez, Sebastián Gutiérrez, Miguel Ángel Maynez-Rojas, Benjamín Ballester, José Luis Ruvalcaba-Sil. 2021. "Colors and dyes of archaeological textiles from Tarapacá in the Atacama Desert (South Central Andes)." Heritage Science. Vol. 9, pgs. 59-79. (heritagesciencejournal)

Smith, Gregory D. Victor J. Chen, Amanda Holden, Negar Haghipour, Laura Hendriks. 2022. "Combined, sequential dye analysis and radiocarbon dating of single ancient textile yarns from a Nazca tunic." Heritage Science. Vol. 10., Article. 179. (heritagesciencejournal)

Smith, Gregory Dale. Victor J. Chen, Amanda Holden, Melinda H. Keefe, Shannon G. Lieb. 2019. "Analytical characterization of 5,5'-dibromoindigo and its first discovery in a museum textile." Heritage Science. Vol. 7, Article 62. (heritagesciencejournal)

Trojanowicz, Marek, Jowita Orska-Gawryś, Izabella Surowiec, Bodan SZostek, Katarzyna Urbaniak-Walczak, Jerzy Kehl, Marek Wróbel. 2004. "Chromatographic Investigation of Dyes Extracted from Coptic Textiles from the National Museum in Warsaw." Studies in Conservation. Vol. 49, No. 2, pgs. 115-130.

Wertz, Julie H. 2017. "Authenticating Turkey red textiles through material investigations by FTIR and UHPLC." ICOM-CC 18th Triennial Conference Preprints. (academia.edu)

Imaging

Andrew, Sally R. and Dinah Eastop. 1994. Using Ultra-violet and Infra-red Techniques in Examination and Documentation of Historic Textiles. The Conservator. 18: 36, 50-56.

Brooks, Mary M. and Sonia A. O'Connor. 2005. An initial exploration of the benefits of using transmitted visible light and infrared photography to access information concealed within multilayered textiles. Scientific Analysis of Ancient and Historic Textiles. Informing Preservation, Display, and Interpretation. Postprints AHRB Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile. Conference (2004) Ed. by Rob Janaway and Paul Wyeth. London: Archetype.  

Brooks, Mary M. and Sonia O’Connor. 2007. X-Radiography of Textiles, Dress and Related Objects. Oxford: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.

Cooper Hewitt Blog Series, November 2019. Jessica Walthew, Kira Eng-Wilmot, Pauline Nguyen.

·        Spotlight on current research multiband imaging for dyed textiles

·        Multiband Imaging of Cochineal-Dyed Textiles

·        Imaging Indigo with Multiband Reflectance Subtraction

Dyer J, Tamburini D, O’Connell ER, Harrison A. 2018, A multispectral imaging approach integrated into the study of Late Antique textiles from Egypt. PLoS ONE 13(10): e0204699. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204699

Fiske, Betty and Linda Stiber Morenus. 2004. “Ultraviolet and Infrared Examination of Japanese Woodblock Prints: Identifying Reds and Blues.” The Book and Paper Group Annual (American Institute for Conservation). Vol. 23, pgs 21-32.

Guidera, Steph, Heather Hodge, and Kathleen Martin. 2024. A Foray into Fungal Dyes. Poster, American Institute for Conservation, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Suh, Kisook. 2018. Application of Multispectral/Multiband imaging in the practice of textile conservation: documentation, investigation, and communication. AIC Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 28: 83-96.

Vitorino, Tatiana. 2014. Hyperspectral Acquisition on Historically Accurate Reconstructions of Red Organic Lakes. International Conferences on Image Signal Processing. Cherbourg, France. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-07998-1_29.pdf

Webb, E. Keats, Rebecca Summerour, and Jennifer Giacci. 2014. A Case Study using Multiband and Hyperspectral Imaging for the Identification and Characterization of Materials on Archaeological Andean Painted Textiles. AIC Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 24: 23-35.

Wetzel, Rachel. 2005. "Optical Brighteners - A Study of Water Solubility." Topics In Photograph Preservation, Photographic Materials Group, American Institute for Conservation. Vol. 11, pgs 73-78.