Identification of indigoid dyes in natural organic pigments used in textiles of Tang Dynasty by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry and Diode Array Detector

Ancient Chinese textile dyeing technology has been greatly developed since the Tang Dynasty. The types of plant that can be used in dyeing has also increased during that period of time. In this study, Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) and Diode Array Detector methods were used for analyzing and identifying of the dyestuff used on the two pieces of textile from the Tang Dynasty. The results show that the dyestuffs of the red and brown samples are derived from madder; the dyestuffs of the blue sample is derived from indigo, while the dyestuffs of the purple is derived from Lithospermum rythrorhizon. © 2016 Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.