Fiery Reds in Nature: The Madder Plants
Madder pigments are traditionally derived from the roots of the herbaceous plant Rubia Tinctorum, however, there are a broad variety of strains of this plant that are native to Europe and Asia. Colours produced vary between orange reds, brick reds, blood reds, and fiery reds. These tones are affected by the soil quality, age of plants, the mineral content of water used for dyeing, the temperature of the dye pot, and the concentration of madder. This plant has also been used historically for its medicinal qualities. The plant contains two reddish dyes called alizarin and purpurin.
Greek writer of a medicinal plant treatise, Dioscorides wrote that madder was found both wild and cultivated in Italy and Asia Minor and was also used as a medicine under the name of Erythrodanon. Pliny mentions it under the same name but also calls it Rubia, which is now applied to the genus of the plant. Madder was named Vaerantia by the Romans from which the French have derived their name Garance. Garance is a powdered madder to which sulphuric acid is applied to carbonise the woody fibre without damaging the pigmenting component. This process is used to produce reds, browns, and madder-yellow. After the Romans left the British Isles, native strains of madder became more popular than the rubia tinctorum plant. These varieties include lady’s bedstraw, hedge bedstraw, dyer’s woodruff, and woodruff. These red dyes were relatively expensive in the Anglo-Saxon period and their use was limited to smaller fabric pieces like headdresses and other accessories.
The primary dye molecule of Indian madder is Munjistin and this has provided the famous red found in Indian chintz fabric that became so popular in Europe that their importation wasrestricted to limit the economic impact on European fabrics. Madder has a long history in South Asia and its application as a pigment has long held influence in a variety of arts across India and into China and the Iranian Plateau.
Today madder is still used in the colour of French military uniforms and has historically been cultivated for this purpose in France and the Netherlands. Madder was also used in the dye of privates’ coats in the British infantry or ‘Red Coats’. The reason for the pigment’s popularity was that it was recognised as an economical, simple, and reliable choice for lower-quality reds in the pre-aniline world. Madder was partly cheaper than other dyes because it only required one mixing stage instead of the usual two-stage process. The plant was grown in southern England and across continental Europe, but the sandy soils of the Netherlands provided the ideal growing conditions. As a result of this, the Netherlands was the largest producer of madder for dye production in Europe prior to the 19th century when chemical dyes took the favour of textile manufacturers. It was recorded by Popular Economic Botany that in 1851, 13,093 tons of madder were imported into England. Another report from 1864 reported around 19,000 tons of the dyestuff were imported into England.
The influence of madder sharply declined with the advent of aniline and chemical dyes, however, the poor quality of early iterations of artificial dyes many artisans reacted to this bad reputation with efforts to revive the use of natural plant dyes. For this reason, madder has retained its relevance into the present day and is often appreciated for its relative light and water fastness in comparison to other natural dyes and pigments.
Sources:
Cover Image
Madder Lake Red - A intense red lake pigment made from the natural dyestuff madder, obtained from the root of the madder plant, or garance (Rubia tinctorum), Kremer Pigmente
