Natural Colors in Ancient Times: Color was the Spice of the Ancient Artist and Artisan

(Colors can be produced in two ways. One is through different wave lengths of visible sun and light, which includes all the colors in existence; each wave length is seen as a different color. (1) The other colors appear as the quality in the natural substances like red iron rust, blue cobalt, etc.. Some colors are pure and basic - red, yellow or blue; others are mixtures of two or more colors - orange is red and yellow; green is yellow and blue, etc...)

From the dawn of human culture, man has pursued color aspiring to decorate and beautify himself, his possessions, and his apparel. Throughout history, and with development of technology, human skill has succeeded ferreting out colors from nature. Man's ability to produce them a rainbow of hues and shades has gone apace. Colors are one of the formal means by which the artist and the artisan convey mental process that otherwise would be impossible. Colors themselves as well as light and dark influence and individual's state of mind - red is the most exciting color, green the most restful, yellow a golden hue, and blue the most cheerful. Suitable colors aid in the visual perception (2) and can increase the pleasures and feeling of well-being, and the enjoyment of artistic endeavors and crafts.

The natural colors used in ancient times were produced from three major sources; the three kingdoms defined by Aristotle - mineral, vegetable and animal. The ancient artists and artisans extracted natural pigments from pure white lead, marble dust, chalk, all the yellow and red earths of ochres, the iron oxides, malachite, graphite and other forms of silicates, carbonates and oxides. They extracted colors from natural organic substances with a vegetable base - indigo, geranium red, red safflower, yellow saffron, henna, brown madder, woad, etc.. Organic animal colors were obtained from the bodies of small insects cochineal), marine mollusks, or parts of animals (bones, horns, shells, eggshells).

"Mordechai left the king's presence in royal robes of blue and white, wearing a golden crown and a cloak of fine linen and purple."
(Esther 8:15)