Kermes (dye)

[1] These insects were used as a red dye since antiquity by the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indians, Greeks, Romans, and Iranians.

[4] In the Middle Ages, rich crimson and scarlet silks dyed with kermes in the new silk-weaving centers of Italy and Sicily exceeded the legendary Tyrian purple "in status and desirability".

[8] Woollens were frequently dyed blue with woad before spinning and weaving, and then piece-dyed in kermes, producing a wide range colours from blacks and grays through browns, murreys, purples, and sanguines.

[9] By the 14th and early 15th century, brilliant full grain pure kermes scarlet was "by far the most esteemed, most regal" colour for luxury woollen textiles in the Low Countries, England, France, Spain and Italy.

"[21] While production of the crimson or scarlet dye from the kermes scale insect had, traditionally, been an art preserved with medieval dyers, the practice seemed to have been lost for many centuries.

[23][24] The dye's crimson or scarlet-orange tinge is alluded to in an early rabbinic source, Pesikta Rabbati, where tola'at shani is said to be "neither red, nor green," but of an intermediate color.

A rare 10th-century Arabic document was retrieved by Zohar Amar, from which he was able to reproduce the dye extract, using antique methods.

[28] In 2016, an archaeological excavation in the "Cave of Skulls" in the Judaean Desert uncovered a woven fabric that potentially used Kermes scarlet dye.

[35] According to field research conducted by Amar and colleagues, the female K. echinatus insect, which has a camouflage color of grey to reddish-brown, "produces the dye pigment in both her body and in her eggs, only at the peak of her adulthood, which continues for no more than one month, around July and August.

[31] After collecting, the insects are first dried in the shade for a period of one week, ground to a powder, and then steeped in water for 45 minutes and which maintains a low-heated temperature of 60 to 80 °C (140 to 176 °F).

[31] When alum is added to the dye substance as a mordant, a bright red-orange hue is obtained, which color is then made color-fast.

[38][31] In the Hebrew Bible, scarlet was considered a striking and lively color,[39] and was used in priestly garments and other ritual items,[40] but could also symbolize sin.