A method of colouring fabric
Date
November/December 1669
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p1
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 296mm
width (page): 190mm
width (page): 190mm
Subject
Description
A method of colouring fabric, including how to stretch the fabric to get a result of even colour over the entire drape.
The method was provided by Mr Herbert, from Dieppe, France on 1 January 1650, as collected by Theodore de Mayerne (1573-1655). Mayerne was a Huguenot physician from Switzerland, who moved to England in 1611 and instantly became Royal Physician to James I. He collected recipes and techniques of artisanal techniques, such as for making pigments, inks and dyes, during his time in London. Many of his manuscripts survive in the British Library, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society. The Royal Society received these documents during the seventeenth century from de Mayerne's godson, Sir Theodore de Vaux FRS (1628-1694).
The drawing is part of the now lost 99-page Mayerne manuscript
on dyes, Experimenta tinctoria, which Mayerne started to collect on 21 May 1639. The transcription of the manuscript (now kept in Cl.P/24/81 and 82) was begun on 24 November 1669 and finished on 6 December of the same year. Robert Hooke was very involved in the examination of the Mayerne papers given to the Society by de Vaux, and it is thought that documents 80-83 in Cl.P/24 belonged to Hooke, although the transcriptions are most likely not in Hooke's own hand.
The method was provided by Mr Herbert, from Dieppe, France on 1 January 1650, as collected by Theodore de Mayerne (1573-1655). Mayerne was a Huguenot physician from Switzerland, who moved to England in 1611 and instantly became Royal Physician to James I. He collected recipes and techniques of artisanal techniques, such as for making pigments, inks and dyes, during his time in London. Many of his manuscripts survive in the British Library, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society. The Royal Society received these documents during the seventeenth century from de Mayerne's godson, Sir Theodore de Vaux FRS (1628-1694).
The drawing is part of the now lost 99-page Mayerne manuscript
on dyes, Experimenta tinctoria, which Mayerne started to collect on 21 May 1639. The transcription of the manuscript (now kept in Cl.P/24/81 and 82) was begun on 24 November 1669 and finished on 6 December of the same year. Robert Hooke was very involved in the examination of the Mayerne papers given to the Society by de Vaux, and it is thought that documents 80-83 in Cl.P/24 belonged to Hooke, although the transcriptions are most likely not in Hooke's own hand.
Object history
Hooke was involved in many dyeing experiments during the period in which this manuscript was transcribed:
21 October 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced a piece of stuff stained by a way of his own contrivance, which he said he hoped to perfect, and to make it serve for staining whole suits of hangings. He was desired to pursue this experiment' (Birch 2:396).
1 November 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced a piece of callico stained after the way contrived by himself, which he was desired to prosecute in other colours besides those, that appeared in this piece' (Birch 2:401).
9 December 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced another specimen of staining with yellow, red, green, blue and purple colours, which he said would endure washing with warm water and soap' (Birch 2:411).
13 January 1669/70, 'Mr. Hooke brought in two specimens of staining better than those produced by him before.
He intimated, that an acquaintance of his lately gone to Malabar had promised him to endeavour to get the art of staining used by that people, which that person had said to be performed by them chiefly with a root.
He added, that the preparing of the cloth or stuff to be stained was a main thing in this work, to hinder the colours from spreading too far, and from running all along the thread' (Birch 2:414).
See also Vera Keller, 'Scarlet Letters: Sir Theodore de Mayerne and the Early Stuart Color World in the Royal Society', in Archival Afterlives: Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scientific and Medical Archives, ed. by Vera Keller, Anna Marie Roos and Elizabeth Yale (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018), pp. 72–119.
21 October 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced a piece of stuff stained by a way of his own contrivance, which he said he hoped to perfect, and to make it serve for staining whole suits of hangings. He was desired to pursue this experiment' (Birch 2:396).
1 November 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced a piece of callico stained after the way contrived by himself, which he was desired to prosecute in other colours besides those, that appeared in this piece' (Birch 2:401).
9 December 1669, 'Mr. Hooke produced another specimen of staining with yellow, red, green, blue and purple colours, which he said would endure washing with warm water and soap' (Birch 2:411).
13 January 1669/70, 'Mr. Hooke brought in two specimens of staining better than those produced by him before.
He intimated, that an acquaintance of his lately gone to Malabar had promised him to endeavour to get the art of staining used by that people, which that person had said to be performed by them chiefly with a root.
He added, that the preparing of the cloth or stuff to be stained was a main thing in this work, to hinder the colours from spreading too far, and from running all along the thread' (Birch 2:414).
See also Vera Keller, 'Scarlet Letters: Sir Theodore de Mayerne and the Early Stuart Color World in the Royal Society', in Archival Afterlives: Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scientific and Medical Archives, ed. by Vera Keller, Anna Marie Roos and Elizabeth Yale (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018), pp. 72–119.
Related fellows
Theodore de Vaux (1623 - 1694, British) , Physician
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703, British) , Natural philosopher
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703, British) , Natural philosopher
Associated place