© 2001 by Design History Society
Colour Quality and Production: Testing Colour in Eighteenth-Century France
New Yrok
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Abstract |
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Successful colour in objects, Whether for textile dyeing, for painting or for ceramics, demandsnds a careful balance of practical and aesthetic goals This has always been true. In the eighteenth century, consumer and manufacturers recognized a near-universal ideals, describing what a colour should be It was difficult to achieve, however, and the advantages of any individual colour or colour-making process had to be weighed against its drawbacks. Efforts to overcome problems were continuous and carried out by many different people, alone or in groups.
The dye industry of eighteenth-century France offers excellent case studies to help us understand the significance of quality and the search for its improvement, in colour and in broader issues of consumption. A description of quality, codified under Colbert in the 1660s, included the means to prove that a colour was all its producer claimed. This paper describes those production ideals, tests and related problems, as well as the methods by which colour quality was controlled through testing. As investigations of colouring materials and theoris of coloration continued during the century, the meaning of the basic test also changed. Techniques that once assured compliance with a standard could establish the merit of new process and materials or compare foreign and domestic colouring inventions They offered a valuable analytical tool to scientists and connection to participation in public life, economic concerns and studies in the sciences are also considered here.
Key Words: colour • design industry • dyeing • eighteenth-century France • production • quality standard