Ulkomaisten jäkäläväriaineiden käytöstä Pohjoismaissa
Abstrakti
The article concentrates on the lichen dyes litmus and orchil which were imported into the Nordic countries. Lichen dyes have been identified in Danish textiles from the Roman lron Age and the Viking Age. The textiles are considered foreign. However, it would be too risky to claim that they were dyed with orchil or litmus. Certain evidence for the use of foreign lichen dyes in the Nordic countries derives from the post-medieval written sources.
In the Swedish texts litmus is mentioned already in the sixteenth century, but in the customs duty lists it exists only in 1812. Litmus was mainly used for dyeing textiles but it could be used to dye e.g. paper and parchment and to make paint, watercolours and reagent paper.
Litmus was sold in blue cube-shaped cakes and was transported in boxes, barrels and sacks. Litmus was mainly made of the lichen Roccella tinctoria which grew on the Canary lslands. The dye was manufactured in Holland according to a secret recipe. In chemical terms litmus is mainly azolitmine.
Orchil was used in Sweden from the beginning of the eighteenth century at the latest, and is mentioned in Swedish customs duty lists for the first time in 1771. Orchil is frequently mentioned in Finnish newspapers in the nineteenth century. Orchil was especially used for dyeing textiles.
Orchil was like wet dough and was transported in jugs. There were two kinds of orchil. Lichens for earth orchil were gathered in the Auvergne in France and lichens for the herb orchil grew on the Canary lslands and the Cape Verde lslands. Herb orchil was usually made of Roccella tinctoria lichen and manufactured in England and Holland. In general, herb orchil was considered better in quality than earth orchil. Chemically orchil is mainly orcein.
