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wolfie379 t1_jbre55e wrote

Reply to comment by Bkwrzdub in The colors on these ancient pots hint at the power of an empire by egg_static5

In Europe, purple was reserved for royalty because it was extremely rare, being extracted from the Dye Murex. Two cultures where royal purple was obtained from a kind of snail.

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IBAZERKERI t1_jbreok1 wrote

and it took something like 10-30 thousand shells to make like an ounce of dye

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DLottchula t1_jbs0a7k wrote

Couldn’t they just mix red and blue?

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EatFrozenPeas t1_jbs1edk wrote

Brilliant red wasn't accessible until the Colombian exchange. It comes predominantly from cochineal beetles, even to this day. (Red 40, anyone?). Blue existed, but mixing what they had access to would create a muddy, brown- or gray-hued purple instead of the brilliant hue of true royal purple.

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Oregonoutback t1_jbsor1k wrote

Fun fact... Starbucks strawberry Frappuccino uses a food dye made from those beetles.

Hakuna matata!

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EatFrozenPeas t1_jbs1hu0 wrote

Brilliant red wasn't accessible until the Colombian exchange. It comes predominantly from cochineal beetles, even to this day. (Red 40, anyone?). Blue existed in some forms, but the accessible inexpensive ones were not very bright either. They were typically plant-derived. Mixing what they had access to would create a muddy, brown- or gray-hued purple instead of the brilliant hue of true royal purple.

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DLottchula t1_jbte7u5 wrote

Thanks for the info. I didn’t think about what the colors were made of would effect how they mix

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Intranetusa t1_jbrzrkg wrote

Yep. In East Asia in contrast, purple was not a royal color probably because it was not as rare. Beginning in the Zhou Dynasty, the kingdoms of the region had learned to produce synthetic purple & synthetic blue called "Han purple" and "Han blue" through a combination of mixing and/or melting different ores together. The Qin Terra Cotta soldiers had their some parts of their armor painted with some purple and blue colors. By the time the synthetic dyes were no longer as common, the culture(s) at that point had already associated other colors with royalty.

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BootyWhiteMan t1_jbrfdof wrote

Why didn’t they just mix red and blue to make purple?

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wolfie379 t1_jbrfve8 wrote

Blue was also a tough one. Most common blue dye was indigo/woad (same pigment produced by two different plants), which due to its nature needed to be applied in a different manner from other dyes. Ultramarine blue existed for painting, but it was expensive (pigment made from crushed semiprecious stone). It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution when chemists started working with coal tar (byproduct of the local gasworks) that a cheap, stable blue dye (Prussian blue) became available.

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mangalore-x_x t1_jc04dl4 wrote

It is important that it was royal purple that was reserved. By the High Middle Ages at latest they knew how to mix other purple dyes, they just weren't made from such exotic ingredients and had a different tone so you could tell it was a different dye.

Same for royal red colors. There were other reds, but the price of the dye was part of the bragging rights.

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