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Indigo carmine: Understanding a problematic blue dye

Article in Studies in Conservation · August 2012

DOI: 10.1179/2047058412Y.0000000058

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 Indigo carmine: Understanding a problematic
blue dye
1 1 2
Matthijs de Keijzer , Maarten R. van Bommel , Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer ,
3 4
Regina Knaller , Edith Oberhumer
1 2
Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Archaeometry,
3
University of Applied Arts Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum at the Expositur, Xi’an,
4
China, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria

The history, analysis, and use of the semi-synthetic dye indigo carmine is described by means of a study of
historical sources including patents, dye identification using high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC), and the examination of dyed textiles. Indigo carmine, the acid dye ‘Saxon Blue’, was invented by
Johann Christian Barth in 1743. Indigo carmine is a water-soluble blue acid dye with the advantage of an
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited

easy dyeing process. Its disadvantages are poor lightfastness and washfastness. For the identification of
indigo carmine by HPLC, a gradient using water, methanol, and 0.5 mM tertiary butyl ammonium hydroxide
can be used to give an unambiguous analytical result. Analyses of dated textile objects prove that indigo
carmine was in use after 1770 until the beginning of the twentieth century. This study provides practising
conservators with chemical, technological, and historical information which can help in the identification of
textiles dyed with indigo carmine, and suggests ways of responding to poor washfastness.
Keywords: Indigo carmine, Patents, Textile dyeing, Washfastness, HPLC-PDA, Johann Christian Barth, Saxon Blue, Non-polar cyclic hydrocarbons

Introduction to the vat dyeing process for indigo. The disadvantage is

Throughout the centuries, natural dyes from vegetable
and animal sources were used for textile dyeing. Their
use changed in the middle of the nineteenth century due
to the discovery and introduction of synthetic dyes.
Before the introduction of synthetic dyes, pig-ments and
semi-synthetic organics such as Prussian blue, indigo
carmine, picric acid, pittacal, and murex-ide were used
in the textile industry. In 1743, the German lawyer
Johann Christian Barth invented the acid dye ‘Saxon
Blue’ (indigo carmine). Indigo carmine, a blue powder
with a purplish lustre, dyes wool and silk a splendid
blue colour. Unfortunately, its other properties are poor:
its lightfastness com-pared to indigo is much reduced,
and the colour changes from blue to green to yellowish
during fading. The German chemist Adolf Lehne wrote
of this in 1893: ‘after five days exposure to the elements,
in June, the colour has not changed much, after three
weeks much greener and duller (translated by MdeK)’
(Lehne, 1893, p. 91). Chemically, indigo carmine is
indigo disulphonic acid. Two SO3H groups are attached
to the indigo molecule (Fig. 1). The conse-quence of
this chemical reaction is that the dye is water-soluble,
which makes dyeing easy, in contrast
Correspondence to: Matthijs de Keijzer, Sector Movable Cultural Heritage,
Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Hobbemastraat 22, 1071 ZC
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: m.de.keijzer@cultureelerfgoed.nl
that the washfastness is low, and it runs in water with a
blue colour.
The history of Saxon Blue
Johann Christian Barth, who discovered Saxon Blue,
was born c. 1700 in Grossenhain, Germany. Here he
held an appointment as a tax collector, but showed a
lifelong interest in chemistry and physics. With the help
of a dyer, Barth discovered Saxon Blue in 1743 and for
this invention he received a prize and the title counsellor
in 1746 (Hanspach & Porada, 2008, p. 356). Saxon Blue
was synthesized by treating natural indigo with
sulphuric acid, preferably the highly concentrated sort
made in Saxony by distilling iron sulphate. Its structure
is shown in Fig. 1. He named the dye after his native
region Saxony (Farrar, 1974). Barth died in 1759 in
Grossenhain.
In 1749 Gottfried Michael Kortum, a doctor and
chemist in Bielitz (now Bielsko-Biala, Poland), out-
lined the main faults of Barth’s colour: ‘firstly the
destructive ingredients, which led to brittle woollen
cloths and secondly: rain water and cold water in
general causes spots’ (Kortum, 1749, p. 4). He also
reports that only a few dyers, especially those in
Saxony, knew the preparation of Saxon Blue two years
after its discovery. It was a secret and even early in 1748
dyers not only in Germany but also in

© The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works 2012
DOI 10.1179/2047058412Y.0000000058 Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012 S87
 de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye
Figure 1 Molecular structure of indigo carmine.
other countries were prepared to pay a lot of money for
knowledge of the technology. The breakthrough came
during the 1748 Easter Trade Fair in Leipzig, when a
foreigner and his friend revealed the dyeing method in
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited
exchange for money (Kortum, 1749, pp. 5–6).
In 1748, the process was bought by the wool dyers of
Norwich and patented in England. On 8 August 1748
English Patent No. 635 was issued to the dyer George
Spence in Southwark, the warehouseman Charles Dolby
and the merchant John Christopher Weguelin, both in
London, for Dyeing Green and Blue Saxon Colours
(Table 1). This first English patent for Saxon Blue
records that: ‘they had their knowledge at a great
expense and charge, by the means and assistance of a
foreigner, who had sold all his interest in the art or
mystery’. The patent further explains the production of
green and blue Saxon colours and the dyeing processes.
For Saxon Green the natural yellow dyes old fustic or
young fustic are boiled with Saxon Blue.
In early 1749 Jean Leonard Roederer, a dyer in
Strasbourg, sent several lengths of blue and green
woollen cloth to Paris. He hoped that the cloths would
be made into hunting costumes for King Louis XV and
the dauphin, his son. Jean Hellot, the government
inspector of the dyeing industries at the Academy of
Sciences in Paris, tested the fabrics and noticed that on
boiling in soap the blue colour was lost. He recognized
that an uncommon material or process had been used
and this inspired him to further investigations. Under
Hellot’s guidance, the process of creating Saxon Blue
was established and a pamphlet describing it was
printed in 1750. Publication meant that a technique to
create Saxon colours was no longer a secret kept from
French dyers, but available to anyone who found the
publi-cation, whether they were in Britain, Holland,
Germany, or somewhere else (Lowengard, n.d.).
In 1754 Saxon Blue was sold under its modern name
of indigo carmine. Even with its acknowledged pro-
blems the blue offered new possibilities for dyeing and
printing, as written in the 1770 English patent No. 951
entitled Colours for Dyeing Paper or
S88 Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012
Leather, issued to the gentlemen Charles Fearne, of the
Inner Temple, London, and James Gray, of Saint
Margaret’s, Westminster, London. It records that the
blue colour for leather is produced from a solution of
indigo in oil of vitriol (fuming sulphuric acid), the green
is an admixture of the blue ‘with any yellow tinc-ture at
pleasure’. The blue and green colours for papers are
prepared in the same manner, the purples are produced
by the admixture of logwood with the blue tincture, or
from cochineal with sal martis (ferrous sulphate) or
tincture of steel (alcoholic sol-ution of iron chloride).
Saxon Blue: preparation, dyeing, and use
The earliest recipes for the preparation of and dyeing
with the Saxon colours are found in: a Dutch manu-
script of 1775; Anfangsgründe der ökonomischen und
technischen Chymie by Suckow (1789); the 1794
Wiener Farbenkabinett; Allgemeine Grundsätze der
Bleichkunst by Hermbstädt (1804); and The Dyer’s
Companion by Bemiss (1806). Most recipes were pub-
lished in the last quarter of the eighteenth and
throughout the nineteenth centuries, especially between
1790 and 1840, see Table 2.
Studies of recipes for indigo carmine show that gen-
erally one pound of natural indigo was mixed with four
pounds of oil of vitriol and two ounces of fine salt. An
early recipe appears in the (1815) second edition of The
Dyer’s Companion:
Take one pound of good flotong indigo (i.e. the
best and softest kind of indigo that swims on the
surface of water) pulverized, four pounds of oil of
vitriol, and two ounces of fine salt – put this in a
stone pot (or some earthen vessel) that will contain
six times the quantity of this com-pound, or it will
be liable to rise and run over. First put in the
vitriol, then the indigo, then the salt, stir this
continually one hour, or till it gets pretty well
settled and cool – for it will boil and foment in a
terrible manner. Let it stand four
 Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited

Table 1 Patents for indigo carmine

Starting material
Natural or Derivative of
Natural synthetic Derivatives of N-phenylglycine-o- Not
Discoverer and company Patent Title and reference indigo indigo N-phenylglycine N-phenylglycine carboxylic acid specified

George Spence, Charles English patent No.635 Dyeing green and blue Saxon colours +
Dolby, and John 8 August 1748
Christopher Weguelin +
Charles Fearne and English patent No.951 Colours of dyeing paper or leather
James Gray 25 May 1770 Verfahren zur Darstellung von +
Farbenfabriken vorm. German patent No.63.218
Friedrich Bayer & Co. 9 December 1890 künstlichem Indigocarmin +
BASF German patent No.68.372 Verfahren zur Darstellung von Farbstoffen
18 January 1891 der Indigoreihe + +
BASF British patent No.8.726 Preparation of artificial indigo, in the form
Complete Specification. soluble in water, by the action of
Example 4 2 March 1891 fuming sulphuric acid upon phenyl-
glycocol +
BASF Belgian patent No.93.863 Reference in US patent No 524.256
28 February 1891 +
BASF Italian patent XXV, 29.239 Reference in US patent No.524.256
and LVll, 257
28 March 1891 +
BASF Spanish patent No.11.774 Reference in US patent No.524.256
25 April 1891 +
BASF French patent No.206.567 Reference in US patent No.524.256
22 May 1891 +

de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye

BASF Austrian patent No.41 and Reference in US patent No.524.256
No.2.153
Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012

6 August 1891 +
BASF Russian patent No.10.700 3 Reference in US patent No.524.256
October 1892 +
Rudolf Knietsch, BASF US patent No. 524.256 Blue dye
7 August 1894 Verfahren zur Darstellung von +
Kalle & Co. German patent No.143.141
24 July 1901 Indigodisulfosäure und Indigo + +
Dr B.W. Gerland German patent No.180.097 Verfahren zur Darstellung von löslichem
30 December 1903 Indigo (Indigodisulfosäure)
S89
 de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye

Table 2 Indigo carmine in various written sources

Year Author and source Title

1749 Gottfried Michael Kortum Neue Versuche der Färbekunst betreffend die, bisher unter dem
Namen ‘Sans pareille de Saxe’ bekannten blauen und grünen
Farben
1750 Jean Hellot Rapport sur la vert de Saxe du sr. Roederer, in the folder ‘Vert de
Saxe – Sieur Roderer de Strasburg’
1750 Jean Hellot Sur le beau vert de Saxe in the folder ‘Vert de Saxe – Sieur Roderer de
Strasburg’
1750 Jean Hellot Manière de teindre un drap blanc en verd, nommé vert de saxe, Paris
1751 Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi Das entdeckte Geheimniss der neuen sächsischen Farben, benebst
einigen Betrachtungen von dem Vorzug und der Theorie dieser
1775 Dutch hand-written manuscript neuen Färbekunst
–
1780–1782 Acta Johann Carl Barthen zu Gr. Hayn erfundene blaue Farbe
1789 Georg Adolph Suckow Anfangsgründe der ökonomischen und technischen Chymie
1794 – Wiener Farbenkabinett: oder vollständiges Musterbuch aller Natur-
Grund- und Zusammensetzungsfarben
1804 Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt Allgemeine Grundsätze der Bleichkunst
1806,1815 Elijah Bemiss The Dyer’s Companion
1813 E. Bancroft Experimental researches concerning the philosophy of permanent
colours
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited

1820 G. Boot De Verwer

1823 William Partridge A practical treatise on dying of woollen, cotton and skein silk
1827 Josef Zötl Hand-written recipe book
1837 J. Dumas Annalen der Chemie
1860 Ludwig Brade Das illustrierte Buchbinderbuch
1863 Capron de Dole and Dussaunce Blues & Carmines of Indigo
1871 W Grüne and H Grothe (ed.) Muster-Zeitung
c.1890 – Sample book of the firm Wood & Bedford, Leeds
1893 – Manual of Dyeing: for the use of practical dyers, manufacturers,
students, and all interested in the art of dyeing

Figure 2 Chromatogram of indigo carmine including the PDA spectra from both compounds. Traces of indigotin are present, indicating
an incomplete sulphonation of the indigotin.

S90 Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012

 de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye

days or a week, covered close, stirring it now and Aniline Blue. The resulting colour has the advantage
then, as is most convenient (Bemiss, 1973, p. 14). that in gas lighting, the colour stays blue, whereas the
blue colour from pure indigo carmine shows a greenish
The quantity for oil of vitriol varies widely in different
tone. Indigo carmine is listed in two English sample
recipes, even up to eight parts compared to one part of
books of the 1890s: from the company Wood & Bedford
natural indigo. Dyers warned about the effects of too
in Leeds (c. 1890), and the 1893 Manual of Dyeing for
much oil of vitriol, noting that the dyed cloths become
the Use of Practical Dyers, Manufacturers, Students, and
damaged and brittle. Sometimes in recipes the dye
All Interested in the Art of Dyeing (Table 2).
prepared by using natural indigo and oil of vitriol is
misleadingly termed Prussian blue. Prussian blue is a
pigment, defined as a hydrated iron hexacya-noferrate
Synthetic indigo and ‘artificial’ indigo carmine
complex, discovered in 1706 by the Swiss alchemist
A new episode started with the discovery and indus-trial
Johann Jacob Diesbach in Berlin, Germany.
production of synthetic indigo in the last decades of the
The dyeing process for indigo carmine starts by
nineteenth century. In 1890, the German chemist Karl
filling a vat with water and heating it to nearly boiling.
Heumann found that N-phenyl-glycine and N-
Then some Saxon Blue is added, stirred, and the cloth is
phenylglycine-o-carboxylic acid were suitable starting
added and taken out. After adding Saxon Blue little by
materials for the production of syn-thetic indigo.
little, dye until the colour pleases. The dyeing can be
Following the successful synthesis of indigo, a similar
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited

done either with or without the use of alum and cream

process was developed for indigo carmine using fuming
of tartar (potassium bitartrate), but using a mordant
sulphuric acid and the same starting materials and their
seems to improve the fastness. However, Josef Zötl, a
derivatives (Heymann, 1891; Knietsch, 1891; Table 1).
master dyer in Upper Austria, mentioned in his hand-
written recipe book of 1827 that for the preparation of
indigo carmine additives are completely useless (Zötl,
1827). Table 3 Identification of indigo carmine in dated textile
objects

Textile object Dating Museum

Indigo carmine in the era of the early synthetic
Dress coat (Frack à 1780–1790 Liechtenstein Museum,
dyes
la française) Vienna, Austria
The use of indigo carmine decreased in the second half Silk satin curtains 1790–1794 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,
of the nineteenth century because, after the 1850s, the and hangings of the Netherlands
the canal house
first synthetic blue dyes, especially of the tri-aryl belonging to
methane class, were discovered (Reinhardt & Travis, Willem Philip
2000, pp. 64–71). In 1860, the French chemists Charles Kops, Haarlem
Four samplers 1842–1849 Zuiderzeemuseum,
Girard and Georges de Laire obtained Aniline Blue, the Enkhuizen,
first synthetic blue dye, by heating fuchsine with the Netherlands
aniline. Two years later the British chemist Edward Sampler by Barbara 1849 Krahuletz Museum,
Greil Eggenburg, Austria
Chambers Nicholson discovered that by treating the Folding screens 1847 Liechtenstein Collections,
water-insoluble basic dye Aniline Blue with fuming Floral silk upholstery Vienna, Austria
sulphuric acid, a series of water-soluble mono-, di-, and 1852 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,
on a set of six the Netherlands
tri-sulphonic acid dyes, such as alkali blue, methyl blue, armchairs (divan
and water blue could be synthesized. Other famous de milieu) made
by the cabinet-
synthetic blue dyes available in this era include the makers Horrix
thiazine dye methylene blue by the German Heinrich ‘Wedding-eve party 1854 Kunsthistorisches
Caro (research director of BASF) in 1876, the tri-aryl dress’ of princess Museum/Wagenburg
Elisabeth of und Monturdepot,
methane dyes Victoria Blue B, Victoria Blue 4R, and Bavaria Vienna, Austria
Night Blue, discovered by Caro (BASF), and the Swiss Carpet 1865–1866 Museum Willet-
Alfred Kern (plant manager of Bindschedler & Busch) Holthuysen,
Amsterdam,
in 1883 and the sulphonated Patent Blues, prepared in Embroidery Breton the Netherlands
1888 by the German chemist Albert Herrmann working 1892 Van Gogh Museum,
for Farbwerke Hoechst. Women by Emile Amsterdam,
Bernard the Netherlands
However, indigo carmine was still being produced. It Embroidery ‘Dance 1904 Van Gogh Museum,
is mentioned in Muster-Zeitung, a German dyers’ of Salome’ by Amsterdam,
Emile Bernard the Netherlands
periodical, with a sample of blue cloth attached (Grüne Embroidery Plants 1927 Van Gogh Museum,
& Grothe, 1871, p. 34). The cloth was first dyed with and Flowers on Amsterdam,
water-soluble indigo carmine two shades lighter, and Orange Pond by the Netherlands
Emile Bernard
afterwards with the alcohol-soluble

Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012 S91

 de Keijzer et al.
(c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited
Published by Maney Publishing
S92
Understanding a problematic blue dye
Figure 3 Silk satin curtains of the interior of the canal house owned by Willem Philip Kops, Haarlem, the Netherlands (1790–
1794), showing the characteristic colour changes of indigo carmine from blue to green to yellowish, as it fades.
In Fortschritte der Theerfarbenfabrikation (1890–
1894) the German chemist Paul Friedlaender noted that
the German processes, filed in German patents 63.218
and 68.372, had no practical outcome, because the yield
of indigo carmine was too low and, compared to indigo,
it played a secondary role (Friedlaender, 1896, p. 274).
Writing in the 1902–1904 volume on the 1903 German
patent, he confirmed that this process was not
considered for large-scale pro-duction (Friedlaender,
1905, p. 246). Farbwerke Hoechst was successful in
replacing indigo carmine with sulphonated greenish-
blue tri-aryl methane dyes, the Patent Blues, discovered
in 1888.
Even in 1922, sample books used by salesmen from
the company Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation
(AGFA) mention ‘Indigo carmine blue A’ for dyeing
silk, leather, and wool. However, high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) of these samples
showed mainly the blue-green sulphonated tri-aryl
methane dye Patent Blue. This suggests that in the
twentieth century the term indigo carmine was used to
characterize the colour shade and not the chemical
composition.
Analysis of indigo carmine
Nowadays HPLC coupled to a photodiode array detector
(HPLC–PDA) is used for the identification
Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012
of indigo carmine. The dye needs to be dissolved prior
to analysis, which requires a two-step extraction. First,
the sample (0.5–1.0 mg) is treated with 50 μl dimethyl
formamide (DMF) at 140°C for 10 minutes. Next, the
DMF is removed and 50 μl of a methanolic hydrochloric
acid solution (water: metha-nol: HCl; 1:1:2) is added to
the remaining sample. This solution is heated at 100°C
for 10 minutes after which the sample is evaporated to
dryness under a gentle nitrogen flow. The DMF from the
first extrac-tion step is then added to the dried sample
and mixed using an automatic stirrer. Finally, the sample
is centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 2 minutes to remove any
precipitate. If necessary, the solution is then transferred
to a clean vial. Depending on the concen-tration, 0.1–
4.0 μl is then injected in the HPLC system. For smaller
samples, the volumes of both DMF and HCl can be
reduced to 25 μl. Previous research indicated that the
indigo carmine is stable during the extraction (van
Bommel et al., 2007). It must be noted that such
solutions of indigo carmine are not stable, and degrade
to become yellowish or col-ourless. It is therefore
advisable that the extracted samples are analysed as
soon as possible i.e. within 24 hours of extraction.
HPLC analysis of natural dyes is usually performed
on a Luna C 18 analytical column using a gradient of

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Figure 4 Dress coat (Frack à la française, 1780–1790),
Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, Austria. © Liechtenstein,
Vienna, Austria.
water, methanol, and 5% phosphoric acid. This system
also shows good results for basic synthetic dyes, but
under these conditions the chromatographic behaviour
of acid dyes, such as indigo carmine, is rather poor,
resulting in bad peak shape, irreproducible retention
times and inferior detection limits due to the nega-tively
charged groups of the dyes. To overcome these
problems a gradient using water, methanol, and 0.5 mM
tertiary butyl ammonium hydroxide (TBA) was
introduced (van Bommel et al., 2007). TBA acts as a
positive counter ion for the negatively charged acidic
groups of the dyes. This results in a very good peak
shape, reproducible retention times, and a signifi-cant
improvement of the detection limits.
de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye
In general, indigo carmine consists of a mixture of
two components; mono- and di-sulphonated indigo-tin.
A typical chromatogram of indigo carmine is pre-sented
including the PDA spectra obtained from both
compounds (Fig. 2).
Indigo carmine in textile objects
Indigo carmine was mainly used in smaller workshops,
especially for dyeing silk, wool, and leather, in printing
and even for colouring soap. It is not recommended for
cotton and linen, because of their higher sensitivity to
acids.
Indigo carmine has been identified in textile objects
from the last quarter of the eighteenth century to the
beginning of the twentieth century (Table 3). The Dutch
dyer G. Boot provides useful information on indigo
carmine in De Verwer; he described the prep-aration and
discovery of Saxon Blue by Barth, the dyeing processes
for wool and silk, and explained that dyers were aware
of the poor properties of indigo carmine. He mentioned
that the preparation process was a secret initially, but
had been generally known for 50 years (Boot, 1820, pp.
145, 307). It can be concluded that indigo carmine was
in use from 1770. Early use was confirmed by the
analysis of two textile objects. The first, the silken satin
curtains and hangings of a canal house in Haarlem, the
Netherlands, belonged to the merchant and art-collector
Willem Philip Kops; the house was rebuilt in 1790 and
the interior was redecorated. The textiles show the
characteristic light greenish-blue colour of indigo
carmine (Fig. 3). HPLC confirmed this deduction. The
second is a dress coat (Frack à la française), dated
1780–1790, from the Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna,
Austria (Figs. 4 and 5). Originally, the silken velvet had
a violet-black colour with tur-quoise weft insertion, but
the colours (especially in the left sleeve) have nearly
completely faded. This fading can be explained by the
dye analysis: the violet was dyed with logwood, the
turquoise weft with indigo carmine.
Conservation of textiles dyed with indigo
carmine
As noted above, indigo carmine was in use for the
dyeing of textiles from about 1770 until the beginning
of the twentieth century. Given its sensitivity to water,
identifying the presence of indigo carmine before start-
ing any wet treatments is wise. Objects that pre-date
1770 should also be examined closely for the presence
of indigo carmine, which may be present in later
additions or repairs. A light greenish-blue colour and the
presence of blue haloes are useful indicators for the
presence of indigo carmine.
In textile conservation practice it is not possible to
carry out expensive and time-consuming dye analyses
Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012 S93
 de Keijzer et al. Understanding a problematic blue dye
on every object treated. Usually the sensitivity of yarns
and fabrics to water in general is examined by
washfastness tests, where the washing process is repli-
cated on small test samples. If bleeding dyes are present,
two options are available: wet treatments are excluded,
or the portions likely to bleed are separ-ated from the
rest. The decision mainly depends on the structure of the
textile: if dye bleeding occurs only in small areas (for
example, embroidery on sam-plers), objects can be
treated in a different manner than voluminous textiles
such as velvet, pile carpets, or tapestries. Isolation of the
dye bleeding parts is an option, by rendering them
hydrophobic by the temporary application of volatile
binding media. Since the mid-1990s non-polar cyclic
hydrocarbons have been used for this purpose. Test
series with cyclododecane and camphene-tricyclene
indicate that the application is very complex. Good
results depend on several criteria, such as evaporation
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited
time, layer thickness, application technique (e.g. melted
or in solution, applied with a brush or by injection) and
post-treatments by a heated spatula etc. (Bruselius
Scharff & Nielsen, 2003). Applicability on several
materials has still to be investigated. Due to the detec-
tion of residues during test series with cyclododecane
and camphene-tricylene, care has to be taken with the
purity of volatile binding media (Schönbach & Wallner,
1997).
Figure 5 Detail showing an unfaded area of the dress coat. The turquoise weft is dyed with indigo carmine. © Liechtenstein Museum,
Vienna, Austria.
S94 Contributions to the Vienna Congress 2012
Both in museums and private collections textile con-
servators can be confronted with textiles where dyes
have already bled. In some cases, reduction or removal
of troublesome haloes has been attempted. At the former
Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and
Science, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a method was
developed to prevent bleeding of indigo carmine from
nineteenth-century samplers. First, the objects were
washed in an alkaline solution, in which indigo carmine
is soluble, in order to remove the bled blue from the
white fabric. After rinsing in demineralized water, the
samplers were immersed in isopropyl alcohol several
times to dis-place the remaining water. Since indigo
carmine has low solubility in isopropyl alcohol, a new
running of the dye during the drying process is
inhibited. It has to be noted that there are no long-term
studies on the effects of this method (van Nes, 1988). In
another project, good results in reducing dye bleeding
were obtained by a partial wet cleaning on a suction
table. In this case, haloes were removed by using cotton
swabs, moistened with a solution of the detergent
Hostapon T in deionized water (1 g/l). Afterwards the
treated areas were carefully rinsed using the same
method. This technique seems to be suitable for
materials such as linen or cotton but deli-cate silk
fabrics should be treated only with special care (Knaller,
1998, p. 16).

Conclusion
Understanding of materials, technology, and historical
context can enhance conservation practice by inform-
ing documentation, instrumental analysis, and conser-
vation interventions. This study, one outcome of inter-
disciplinary research collaboration, provides practising
conservators with chemical, technological, and
historical information which can help in the
identification of textiles dyed with indigo carmine, and
suggests ways of responding to poor washfastness.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the following museums for providing
textile objects: from the Netherlands: Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Museum Willet-
Holthuysen, and the Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen;
from Austria: Kunsthistorisches Museum, the
Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney&Son Limited
Liechtenstein Collections, the Liechtenstein Museum,
Vienna, and the Krahuletzmuseum, Eggenburg. We also
thank for support in this research: Judith de Graaff,
Rijnsaterwoude; Suzan Meijer, Mieke Albers and Carola
Holz, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Karin
Müller-Kelwin, Museum Alte Lateinschule,
Grossenhain, Germany; Erika Hofmann and Monika
Kralofsky, Vienna, and Manuel Wandl, Eggenburg,
Austria.
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