The Study of the Historic Natural Dye Royal Purple in the Greek Region Using Selected Spectroscopic and Imaging Techniques

This paper focuses on the study of the famous royal purple dye. It aims to present a holistic approach by researching historical evidence, both for its use and its production, to highlight the importance of the dye within the Greek area. As a substantial part of information concerning the dyeing procedure of purple dye has been lost during the ages, it is crucial to establish points of documentation and identification. The latter can be achieved through chemical analysis, but as this dye is found on precious’s cultural heritage items, which cannot always be sampled, a non-destructive approach should be considered as more appropriate. At first, the history of the dye purple is presented within the Greek area. Then, samples of purple dye are created based on traditional recipes from the Greek area, in order to compose a profile with the characteristics of purple using non-destructive and imaging techniques, thus emphasizing the importance of applying these techniques for the study of dyes on textiles. The results of the experiments show differences in behavior between the pure gland and the dyed samples, as well as the intensity of the color depending on the dyeing procedure.