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Polish kermes

Porphyrophora Polonica L.
Colors Obtained
Vermilion, Purple, Red, Pink
Dye Ingredients
Carminic acid, Kermesic acid, flavokermesic acid
Historical Data
The first written reference to Polish kermes - as "vermiculus " - is in an instruction from Charlemagne in 812 to the Carolingian estates. The use of red from Polish kermes in the Pazyryk Carpet proves, however, that this dye-insect was used much earlier, more than 2,500 years ago. Probably its qualities as a dyestuff were known and used even before then, a supposition that we cannot confirm, since the even earlier textile found in Takla Makan Desert , which have intense red and are now in the museum in Urumgi in China , have not yet been subject to a dye analysis. The Pazyrk carpet, the earliest pile carpet known, was named for the valley in the Altai Mountains of Siberia where it was found in the late 1940s.