This document summarizes an investigation into the historical use of dyes in high status Chinese textiles from the 16th to 18th centuries. The study analyzed dyes from textile samples using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify dye components. It also reviewed historical literature on dye recipes and dye plants to understand which dyes were commonly used and how dye combinations achieved various coloring effects. The goal was to determine if dye use was consistent with records and correlated with factors like color, rank, and garment type.

1. An Historical and Chemical Investigation of
Dyes in High Status Chinese Textiles
of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (16th to 18th Century)
Jing Han, Anita Quye and Nick Pearce
Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History, History of Art
University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
Historical costumes analysis
• Is the use of dyes in consistent with literature records?
• Is there a correlation with the use of dyes and such
factors as colour, rank, type of clothes and use of threads?
UPLC result of a mixed
standard of rutin,
alizarin and purpurin
(respectively dye
components of pagoda
bud and madder)
Sampling from a court robe, Qing Dyansty
© Courtesy Jacqueline Simcox Ltd
Development of a chemical
analysis protocol
• Class of dye components: anthraquinone,
flavonoid, neo-flavonoid, isoquinoline alkaloids, etc.
• Analysis methods: Ultra high performance liquid
chromatography and Mass spectrometry (auxiliary)
Chemical Analysis
We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Textile Conservation Foundation,
The Swire Charitable Trust, the Sym Charitable Trust and the Sino-British Fellowship
Trust for this doctoral research.
Literature and Experimental Research
Dye sources and dyeing effectsHistorical literature of dye recipes
• was achieved by
variations in the
combination and
quantity of raw
materials
Botanical provenance research of dye plants
Confusion about plants mainly results from
• the lack of uniform naming conventions
• conversion between different taxonomies
• Duoneng bishi 多能鄙事 (Various arts in
everyday life), early Ming Dynasty
• Tiangong kaiwu 天工開物 (Chinese Technology
in the Seventeenth Century), 1637
• Neiwufu quanzong dang’an, Zhiranju buce 內務
府全宗檔案, 織染局簿冊 (Complete File of the
Imperial Household, Volume of the Weaving and
Dyeing Bureau), 1736-1850
• Bu jing 布經 (The cloth classic), 1795-1850
Enrichment of colour
Adoption and abandonment of dyes
The first page of dye recipes
in Tiangong kaiwu
Commonly used dyes