Towards making classical durable colours: a literature review and tentative simulation of classical processes of making natural red lake pigments

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370161
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Art at large
• Research Institution: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
• Principal Investigator: SAKUMA Michiko 東京藝術大学, 大学院美術研究科, 講師 (80644773)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KUTSUNA Takahiko 国立科学博物館, 研究員 (20574148)
• Research Collaborator: TAKEDA Eri ; KUTSUNA Hiromi ; NISHIKAWA Ryuji ; SATO Eisuke
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: カーマインレーキ / 天然赤色レーキ顔料制作 / 天然有機顔料 / 絵画材料 / 絵具

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims at making natural red lake pigments that stand up to use. It should be noted that after synthetic alizarin lake pigments were discovered in the mid 19th century, natural red lake pigments came to be drawn no attention.
In this project, we made experiments of making natural red lake pigments based upon 19th century literature we ranged. We chose eight methods of manufacturing carmine lake from cochineal insects. Then we tested the light durability of the pigments produced. We found that all the pigments produced faded to some extent but not so soon. We concluded that by preserving well the pictures painted by using the pigments they stand up well to use. In addition, we tried to improve the process beyond that described in the past literature so that we had some progress in quantitative efficiency of the process as well as the quality of the colours.

Free Research Field

絵画技法材料