Textiles Peruvian

J. Wouters andN. Rosario Chirinos, Dye analysis ofpre Columbian Peruvian textiles with high performance liquid chromatography and diode array detection, J. Am. Inst. Conserv., 31, 237 255 (1992). 

On numerous Peruvian textiles from the Paracas era, dyes from relbun roots have been identified (2, 3, 48). The Araukans, an Indian tribe in southern Chile, have been using roots of Relbunium hypocarpium even in this century for dyeing red shades on wool (50). 

I would like to thank Charles E. Llewellyn for donating the Peruvian textile used in these experiments. I would also like to acknowledge the help of J. C. McCawley, Chief, Conservation Processes Research, Canadian Conservation Institute, both in the preparation of this manuscript and in the performance of the experiments. 

The problem of the correct sequence of excavated Peruvian textiles is a complex one. Until we have an accepted seriation, it will be difficult to draw any conclusions regarding the temporal distribution of dyes in any area. 

This may not be as easy in the case of the yellows and browns shown in Figure 11. With yellows, the sulfuric acid curves are of less value, and milder solvents such as methanol with a trace of acid give better results. To date, no one has identified the soiurce of any of the yellow dyes in Precolumbian Peruvian textiles. A recent paper by Kashi-wagi points to logwood, but this has not been confirmed (16),... 

Wouters, Jan and Noemi Rosario-Chirinos (1992). Dye Analysis of Pre-Columbian Peruvian Textiles with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Diode-Array Detection. Journal ofthe American Institute for Conservation (The American Institute for Conservation of Historic Artistic Works), 31(2) 237-255. doi I0.2307/ 3179495. JSTOR 3179495. 

Wouters Rosario-Chirinos (1992) Wouters, J. Rosario-Chirinos, N. Dye analysis of Pre-Coliunhian Peruvian textiles widi high-performance hquid chromatography and diode-array detection Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 31 2 (1992) 237-255... 

The answer was to put the piece back on the vacuum hot table, this time adhering the almost invisible silk to the face of the textile. This was not as pleasing aesthetically as I would have liked, but at least the piece is safe and will last for many years. Otherwise it would have totally disintegrated in a few years. In another Peruvian piece of similar structure, there was no problem because the warps were strong enough to withstand the sewing down of loose surface wefts which were not held by the adhesive. 

These points were investigated by a series of experiments involving the water washing of a Peruvian cotton textile that was approximately 800 years old. Various treatments were tested by subjecting suitable size samples to washing with tap water, reagent grade distilled-deionized... 

Treatment Sequence. The textile used for the experiments was unbleached and undyed cotton. The fragment was plain weave and had a thread count of 17 X 12/cm (warp X weft), and the yams were spun with a Z twist. The textile was dated from about A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1350 and was attributed to the Peruvian central coast. It was only moderately dirty and was in excellent condition. 

In examining these samples, we found evidence of indigo and a red dye in several samples, and the same red dye was found in other fibers. A search of our files of modern dyes showed this to be similar to the modem food colorant. Carmine Cl Natural Red 4, which is obtained from the cochineal insect Dactylopius cacti (formerly called Coccus cacti). Since it is believed that cochineal was known to the Precolumbian Peruvians, we made the comparison, and the curves are shown in Figure 5. Later, we found that William J. Young of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had found cochineal in Nazca textiles (12). 

As mentioned earlier, any information obtained from the artifacts of a preliterate society helps us to understand them. There is another very important reason to determine the nature of the dyes used in museum textiles. This applies particularly to textiles which are to be exhibited. Thanks to the work of Padfield and Landi (15), we have a reasonable amount of information about the lightfastness of natural dyes. With some exceptions, indigo, madder, and cochineal are the most important they have relatively poor lightfastness. We shall have to determine the fastness of the yarns dyed from Peruvian plants. When we know these facts, we can then help the curator or conservator to make decisions regarding exhibition, lighting, conditions of storage, and safety of conservation treatments. 

To get back to our Peruvian dyes, from our work to date it seems that it should be possible to determine which of the four red dyes, believed to have been used in Peru in Precolumbian times, was actually used on a given textile. Figure 10 shows the curves of brasilwood, madder, relbunium, and cochineal in concentrated H2SO4. They are clearly diflFerent from each other even in a single solvent. Their curves in other solvents such at NaOH are also diflFerent and resolve any question of diflFerentiating among them. 

We wish to thank Nora Fisher of the Museum of International Folk Art, Sante Fe, New Mexico, for permission to report on the results obtained on the samples from her collection of Mixtec textiles. We thank Barbara Mullins for sharing with us her samples of dyeings from Peruvian plants. 

Cordy-CoIUns,A.i982. Psychoactive painted Peruvian plants The shamanism textile ofEthnobiology 2(2) 144—153,... 

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