A Lost Art Re-Discovered

From the earliest ages of the world, purple has been honored above all other colors. Moses, under divine instruction, used purple stuffs for the furniture of the Tabernacle, and for the dress of the High Priest. The Babylonians arrayed their idols in splendid robes of purple; and such was the practice of the pagans in general, many of whom superstitiously believed that this dye had a peculiar virtue, and was capable of appeasing the wrath of their gods. Purple robes were also characteristic of regal dignity, and, by a Roman imperial decree, they were restricted to the use of the Emperor alone, the penalty of death being inflicted on any who dared to disregard the decree. To "assume the purple" is still understood to signify election to the highest office. The Tyrian purple was particularly precious and was held in the highest esteem by the ancients.

It is said to have been discovered about fifteen centuries before Christ, lost as an art about the eleventh century after Christ and re-discovered in the year 1683, A. D. The name purple is derived from Purpura, a variety of the genus Murex or purple-fish.

An expression of Virgil's implies that the Tyrian dye was extracted from this shell in his time. He says, "glowing with Tyrian Murex." The Tyrians were most successful among the ancients in preparing and using this celebrated color. The Mediterranean Sea supplied them with the Mollusca in abundance, and in order to produce the tint that was most desirable, a double dye was given, that is, two different kinds of shells were used, the Genus Buccinum and the Genus Murex. The material, generally woolen, was first steeped for a certain time in a liquid extracted from the Murex, then taken out and immersed in a boiler which contained an extract of the Buccinum. Wool which had been subjected to this double process was so highly valued, that in the reign of Augustus a pound of it sold for about one hundred and fifty dollars in our money, nor need we be surprised when it is remembered that only a single drop of the coloring fluid was to be obtained from each animal. The vast heaps of broken shells found about Tarentum, are supposed to be those from which the celebrated dye was extracted, and they seem to indicate that place as one where it was largely prepared. The fluid was extracted from a white vein lying in a little furrow near the head of the animal, the vein being laid open with a needle. The stain given by this animal fluid seems to have been indelible, bidding defiance to every chemical process for removing stains. Eastern emperors permitted the art to be practiced by only a few individuals, until at last, at about the beginning of the twelfth century, when the Empire was suffering from attacks without and dissensions within, the art of imparting the Tyrian purple was lost altogether. A Mr. Cole, of Bristol, England, claimed to have re-discovered the art in 1683. Mr. Cole heard from two ladies residing at Minehead that a man living on the coast of Ireland made his living by marking in a delicate crimson the fine linen which ladies and gentlemen sent to him for the purpose, the dye being a substance taken out of a shell-fish. This brought to Mr. Cole's mind the tradition that the famous Tyrian purple was obtained from the shell-fish. He went without delay to the place, obtained some shell-fish from the seaman, and, after many unsuccessful attempts, finally succeeded in re-producing the imperial purple. Ordinary purple is obtained from vegetable and mineral sources.