The Red Dye from the Bug

choi

Ann Landi, The Bug That Changed the World of Color. Wall Street Journal, Aug 6, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the- ... d-review-1438806704

Excerpt in the window of print: The cochineal bug, unappealing on its own, can be transformed into a dazzling rainbow of reds, from pale pinks to deep burgundies and flaming scarlets.

Note:
(a) This is an exhibition review on The Red That Colored the World. Museum of International Folk Art, May 17 -Sept 13, 2015.
http://www.internationalfolkart.org/exhibitions/red.html
("From Antiquity to today, as symbol and hue, red has risen to the pinnacle of the color spectrum. Throughout art history, a broad red brushstroke has colored the finest art and expressions of daily life. Yet, while most people know red, few know of its most prolific and enduring source: American Cochineal, a tiny scaled insect that produces carminic acid. Fewer still know the story behind its explosive global spread after its first encounter by Spain in 16th century Mexico. Explore this fascinating story. Admission is FREE every Sunday Through September 13, 2015! (Photo: Sewing box with cover with cochineal dyed wool yarn -detail). Box, Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, late 18th century. Wood, paint, metal, gold leaf, 4 3/4 x 17 5/16 x 5 inches. IFAF Collection, Courtesy of the Museum of International Folk Art, Photo, Addison Doty)")
(i) carminic acid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carminic_acid

Pay attention to the chemical structure only (because more will be explained below), which consists of 1 molecule of anthraquinone (3 hexagons) and 1 molecule of glucose (a hexagon to the left).
(ii) carmine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine
(obtained from the aluminium [which is British spelling for 'aluminum': Oxford] salt of carminic acid [the illustration shows two molecules of carminic acids held together by an aluminum ion]; section 1 Etymology)

(b)
(i) Museum of International Folk Art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_International_Folk_Art
("a [now] state-run institution in Santa Fe, New Mexico * * * operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs"/ was opened to the public in 1953; The original building, a gift to the state from Bartlett, was designed by famed New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem)

acronym: MOIFA
(ii) Florence Dibell Bartlett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Dibell_Bartlett
(1881–1953; True Value Hardware)

This Wiki page says, MOIFA is "world's first international folk art museum" and "the world’s largest collection of folk art."  MOIFA’s website so boasts.
(iii) It is unclear when (what year) the museum was donated to the state, but the original building (now Bartlett Wing of MOIFA) and its collection were first owned by Bartlett and then donated to the state.  See

Victor J Danilov, Women and Museums: A Comprehensive Guide; A comprehensive guide. Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2005, at page 117
https://books.google.com/books?i ... %201953&f=false
("She [Bartlett] built the museum, donated her collection to the the state of New Mexico, and left approximately $1.5 million to the Museum of International Folk Art. The 86,967-square-foot museum, which opened in 1953 and is a branch of the Museum of New Mexico")

choi

(c) "Yet when the insect is ground up with its eggs and hundreds of its fellows, the powder produced can be coaxed into a dazzling rainbow of reds—from pale pinks to deep burgundies, purples and flaming scarlets. [The exhibition] tells the story of how cochineal red made its way around the globe, from Aztec culture to the paintings of the High Renaissance to modern-day haute couture [still in use, that is]. * **  Illustrations from the 16th to 18th centuries show how the cochineal bug was harvested from the prickly pear cactus."
(i) cochineal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal
(A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico; The insect produces carminic acid that deters predation by other insects)

section 4 Biology: "Adult males can be distinguished from females in that males have wings [females do not], and are much smaller, * * * Male nymphs feed on the cactus until they reach sexual maturity. At this time, they can no longer feed at all and live only long enough to fertilise the eggs. They are, therefore, seldom observed.

(ii) Thomas Eisner, Maria Eisner and Melody Siegler; Secret Weapons: Defenses of insects, spiders, scorpions, and other many-legged creatures. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2005, at pages 134-136
https://books.google.com/books?i ... 0weapon&f=false
(As to the function of carminic acid itself, none had been proposed until recently * * * However, carminic acid has now been demonstrated to be a strong feeding deterrent to ants, which lends support to the notion that the compound is defensive.  Interestingly, Dactylopius are not without enemies. Three are known: a pyralid caterpillar (Laetilia coccidivora), a coccinellid beetle larva (Hyperaspis trifurcata), and a fly larva (Leucopis sp.). These are not only unaffected by carminic acid, but use the dye for defensive purposes of their own. L coccidivora regurgitates the chemical with crop fluid when disturbed, H trifurcata emits it as part of droplets it exudes by reflex bleeding, and Leucopis sp. expels the compound with anal fluid")

* crop (anatomy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_(anatomy)
(iii) Raychelle Burks, Carminic Acid. In Chemistry World. Royal Society of Chemistry, July 17, 2015.
www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/ ... e-cochineal-podcast

Quote:

"This dye was first utilized and mass produced by the Aztec empire

"It’s the females that spend their lives on cacti leaves and it’s the female cochineals that are packed full of red dye.

"It’s been estimated that 70,000 female cochineals are needed to produce 1lb of carminic acid dye.

"Carminic acid is pH dependent and we can tune the colour of a dye bath by adjusted the pH. For a more orange red, we’ll need to lower the pH. If we want wine red to violet, we’ll need increase the pH.  What if we want to lock-in carminc acid’s red colour, making a dye much less sensitive to pH? Chelation is the answer. Carminic acid forms complexes with aluminium and calcium to produce carmine.  The chelate carmine is red over a much wider pH range and gives a more intense red than carminic acid.

"Both carminic acid and carmine are permitted to be used to colour foodstuffs in North America [Starbucks did] and Europe, with concentration limits in the parts-per-million range.

* The Cochineal—A Very Special Insect. Awake! g02 7/8 pages 22-23 (2002) (⅞ probably means July/ August combined issue)
wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102002486
("Only female cochineals contain the red pigment, carminic acid. Pregnant cochineals contain the highest concentration of it. Thus, in order to obtain the best-quality dye, workers take special care to harvest pregnant cochineals just before they lay their eggs")

(In the URL: wol = Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY; jw = Jehovah’s Witness)

choi

(d) "In the 1520s, when Spanish invaders encountered the red pigment in the marketplaces of Mexico City, the color was on its way to greater glory in Europe. American cochineal quickly supplanted Europe’s other sources of red dye and became Spain’s second most lucrative import after silver."

Aztec Empire (1428-1521; conquered by Spain); Capital  Mexico-Tenochtitlan (de facto))  Wikipedia

(e) "A swatch of gorgeous burgundy velvet next to an El Greco painting of Christ, 'El Salvador' (c 1608-14), robed in a slightly paler shade, vividly makes the point."
(i) El Greco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Greco
(1541 – 1614; "El Greco" ("The Greek") was a nickname)
(ii) the painting
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/480548222717435498/

is a collection of El Greco Museum, at City of Toledo (70 km south of Madrid), Spain.

(f) "Spain monopolized the production of cochineal until the 1820s, when it began to be cultivated elsewhere, like the Canary Islands, and cheaper reds came on the market. * * * A magnificent Edo-period embroidered firefighter’s cloak and hood from the 18th or 19th century, ceremonial garb for special occasions, matches the most sumptuous of Western religious attire."
(i) Firefighter's hooded cape (shöbö zukin), Japan, 18th-19th century, Edo period; wool with gold- and silk-thread embroidery and appliqué; John C Weber Collection; photo John Bigelow Taylor"
www.santafenewmexican.com/pasati ... 1-5b207cd93ea7.html
(ii) Edo’s Bravest Inspire Kagatobi Sake. UrbanSake.com, undated
www.urbansake.com/sake-blog/edos ... -kagatobi-sake.html
("Kaga-tobi, or the Kaga Clan Firemen. These firefighters were viewed by the general public as masculine and tough but above all they were greatly admired for their bravery at fighting fires in a time when Edo buildings were constructed mainly of wood, bamboo and rice paper, making them susceptible to devastating fires.  The mythos of the dashing firefighter survives to this day, and Fukumitsuya 福光屋 Sake Brewery located in Japan’s beautiful Ishikawa Prefecture 石川県, used this idea as an inspiration for their flagship product being imported into the US: 'Kagatobi 加賀鳶 Sake' ”)
(A) Japanese English dictionary
* shōbō 消防 【しょうぼう】 (n) fire fighting; fire department
* zujin 頭巾 【ずきん】 (n): "hood"  (See photos in
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A0%AD%E5%B7%BE
)
* tobi トビ; トンビ 《鳶; 鴟; 鵄》 【とび; とんび】 (n): "(1) black kite (Milvus migrans); (2) (とび only) (abbr[eviation] from 鳶職) construction worker; scaffold erector; firefighter"
* kaka-e-ru 抱える 【かかえる】 (v): "(1) to hold [things (such as books or grocery) in the chest with both hands]; (2) to have (esp. problems, debts, etc); (3) to employ; to engage; to hire"

black kite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_kite
(is thought to be the world's most abundant species of [family] Accipitridae [view map for range]
(B) 加賀鳶
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/加賀鳶
(may refer to "加賀藩前田 Maeda [surname] 家が江戸藩邸で抱えていた各自火消（大名火消）。喧嘩鳶とも呼ばれた")

translation: individual firefighters under the employ of Kaga Domain’s Maeda Clan. Also known as quarrelsome [not ‘noisy’] firefighter.
(C) Kaga Domain  加賀藩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaga_Domain
([located mostly] in modern-day Ishikawa Prefecture; The domain was founded by MAEDA Toshiie 前田 利家 [1538 – 1599] and headed by the Maeda clan 前田氏)

The feudal lords in Japan’s Edo period had to reside in Edo every other year (to ensure their loyalty to the shōgun 将軍); that is what 江戸藩邸 was for.
(D) The ukiyo-e is

歌川国貞三代, 「鳶ノ己之助 坂東家橘」「鳶ノ石松 中村伝五郎」. 1886

, which was a circular promoting
盲長屋梅加賀鳶 (通称「加賀鳶」), a kabuki 歌舞伎 first played in 1886 in Tokyo (then Edo).
* The Ukiyo-e has several titles (names), among them「鳶ノ己之助 坂東家橘」and「鳶ノ石松 中村伝五郎」.
* 鳶ノ己之助 and 鳶ノ石松 were two characters in the Kabuki, played by 坂東家橘 and 中村伝五郎, respectively.  (All information about  (D) so far is derived from a Web page about this ukiyo-e written by Tokyo Metropolitan Library 東京都立図書館.                                             * 盲長屋: “通路に面した側に窓のない長屋。大名屋敷にみられる。”   (translation: mekura 盲 nagaya 長屋 is a long house without a window facing the road; deemed the mansion 屋敷 [also represented by kanji 邸, for the same (Japanese) pronunciation] of a feudal lord)
松村明 編, 大辞林 第三版. 三省堂 (2006).

choi

(g) “More typical of cochineal’s use in the Western Hemisphere, particularly the American Southwest, are the primitive Santos, carved wooden figures often placed in churches. * * * In the late 1800s, the color found a home among tribal peoples, too, including the Plains Indians and the natives of Octopus Bay on the Northwest coast. An undated Lakota ‘courting blanket’ is as striking in its simplicity as a radically reductive painting by Barnett Newman or Ellsworth Kelly, but wrapped around a pair of lovers (seen whispering on the vertical in a drawing here from about 1877), it afforded a privacy largely unavailable in the couple’s close-knit community.”
(i) santo (art)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_%28art%29
(The practice of creating Santo objects began in Spain)
(ii) Plains Indians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians
(who have traditionally lived on the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies in North America)
(iii) I can not find Octopus Bay in Northwest.
(iv) About Lakota. Sioux has three subcultures: from America’s west to east are Lakota, Nakota and Dakota. View the map in Dakota people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_people

(h) “The show brings ‘Red’ up to the present with contemporary Santos, weavings, and a final gallery of designer clothes, both fanciful and elegant—like the ethereal silk-and-organza pale-pink dress and scarf from British designer Cathryn Avison * * * It’s easy to cavil that ‘Red’ could use fewer textiles—which are here in dizzying profusion—and more Old Masters, but for sheer dazzle, bolstered by gentle erudition, this is a model of its kind.”
(i) organza
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organza

* The www.merriam-webster.com sys the word is "probably alteration of Lorganza, a trademark; First Known Use 1820).
(ii) Ensemble. London: Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O83509/ensemble-avison-cathryn/("Date: early 1996 (made) * * * Museum number:T.127:1 to 4-1996 * * * Cathryn Avison's ethereal, layered silk ensemble with cutwork and embroidery is dyed in cochineal to create delicate shades of rose pink")
(iii) cavil (vi): "to raise trivial and frivolous objection"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cavil