Kraplak (Rose Madder )

The extract from the roots of Rubia tinctorium. The history of using this extract is dated back to 1500 BC, cloths coloured in this shade have been found in the tomb of the pharaon Tutanchamon as well as in the ruins of Pompeii. Kraplak was also being used in the 17th. century for colouring the English soldiers’ uniforms (that is why they are called redcoats till this day). 

The German chemists Carl Graebe and Carl Lieberman have managed to produce alizarin synthetically from antracen in 1868 and this technology was then patented by the BASF firm, that has made even more for the needs of the German army. 

 

The colour was also used as the clean/clear pigment in varnish (Manfred von Richthofen’s or Ernst Udet’s crimson planes, the red insignia of JASTA`s), or eventually could be also mixed with white colour for example or with white and blue to create a shade of crimson.