Why was purple pigment history difficult to produce? Couldn’t ascestors have just mixed red and blue, instead of laboriously extracting it from sea snails?
In: Chemistry
In ancient times they didn’t have access to nearly as many pigment sources as we do today. Mainly because they hadn’t been discovered and mined yet, but also due to limits in trade networks.
While some colors like Red and Black (Charcoal) and very easy to find because of the abundance of minerals and such of that color, other colors are very difficult to find.
Blue pigment was historically even more difficult to produce than purple. The only available vibrant sources of blue were very expensive liked crushed gemstone (Lapis Lazuli)
Speaking as as a painter you have to understand that mixing pigment doesn’t always give great results. Mixing Red and Blue for example often results in a purple with a greyish tinge instead of being vibrant. So it’s not as easy as it sounds.
The particular pigment you are likely referring to is the sea snail purple dye that is referred to in the Bible. It was highly sought after because of it’s vibrant color, but was so expensive that it was reserved for royalty.
But there were other ways to get purple dyes. The Chinese for example had Han purple which was one of the first synthetic dyes. Exactly how it was made though has been lost to time.
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