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The Armenian cochineal (''Porphyrophora hamelii'' (Brandt)), also known as the Ararat cochineal or Ararat scale, is a scale insect indigenous to the Ararat plain and Aras (Araks) River valley in the Armenian Highlands. It was formerly used to produce an eponymous crimson carmine dyestuff known in Armenia as ''vordan karmir'' ((アルメニア語:որդան կարմիր), literally "worm's red") and historically in Persia as ''kirmiz''.〔〔 Second revised edition of 1956 original printing.〕〔 Vedeler, citing Cardon (2007), notes that "the Persian name ''Kirmiz'' originally referred to the Armenian carmine, a parasitic insect living on Gramineae grass, but the same name was also used by Arab geographers for insects living on oak trees in Maghreb and Al-Andalus, probably referring to ''Kermes vermilio''", although "()t is . . . not clear whether the 'Kirmiz' dyestuff mentioned in early Arab texts always refers to the use of the insect ''Kermes Vermilio''."〕〔 English translation by Caroline Higgitt of Cardon's French-language book ''Le monde des teintures naturelles'' (Éditions Belin, Paris, 2003).〕 The species is critically endangered within Armenia. The term "cochineal" means a red dyestuff derived from various scale insect species.〔(''Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments'' ) by Nicholas Eastaugh et al., year 2007, entry for "cochineal".〕 The Armenian cochineal scale insect, ''Porphyrophora hamelii'', is in a different taxonomic family from the scale insect most commonly called "cochineal", which is the American or Mexican cochineal insect ''Dactylopius coccus''. But the two have the same active dye chemical (carminic acid). == History and art == ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' is one of the ancient natural sources of red dye in the Middle East and Europe, along with the insect dyes kermes (from ''Kermes vermilio'' and related species), lac (from ''Kerria lacca'' and related species), and carmine from other ''Porphyrophora'' species such as the Polish cochineal (''Porphyrophora polonica''), and the plant dye madder (from ''Rubia tinctorum'' and related species).〔〔〔 It is possible that Armenian cochineal dye was in use as early as 714 B.C., when the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II was recorded as seizing red textiles as spoils of war from the kingdoms of Urartu (the geographic predecessor of Armenia) and Kilhu.〔〔 The Roman-era physician and pharmacologist Dioscorides, writing in the 1st century A.D., noted that the best ''kokkos baphike'', the kermes shrub and its "grain" (kermes insect) that some ancient writers likely confused with ''Porphyrophora hamelii'', came from Galatia and Armenia.〔〔〔 English translation by T.A. Obaldeston with introductory notes by R.P. Wood.〕 In the Early Middle Ages the Armenian historians Ghazar Parpetsi and Movses Khorenatsi wrote specifically of a worm-produced dyestuff from the Ararat region.〔〔 During the Middle Ages the Armenian cochineal dyestuff ''vordan karmir'', also known in Persia as ''kirmiz'', was widely celebrated in the Near East.〔〔〔〔 ''Kirmiz'' is not to be confused with dyer's kermes, which is derived from another insect.〔 The Armenian cities Artashat and Dvin were early centers of the production of ''kirmiz'': during the 8th through 10th centuries Arab and Persian historians even referred to Artashat as "the town of ''kirmiz''".〔〔 The Arabs and Persians regarded ''kirmiz'' as one of the most valuable commodities exported from Armenia.〔 The Armenians themselves used ''vordan karmir'' to produce dyes for textiles (including Oriental rugs) and pigments for illuminated manuscripts and church frescos.〔〔 Chemical analyses have identified the dye of ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' in Coptic textiles of the 3rd through 10th centuries, a cashmere cloth used in a kaftan from Sassanid Persia in the 6th or 7th century, silk liturgical gloves from 15th-century France, Ottoman fabrics such as velvets and lampas of the 15th through 17th centuries, and a 16th-century velvet cap of maintenance that belonged to Henry VIII of England.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/king-henry-viiis-cap-of-maintenance )〕 At the time of the Renaissance in Europe, ''Porphyrophora'' insects were so valuable that in Constantinople during the 1430s, of ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' insects was worth more than of gold.〔〔Some articles improperly cite Cardon to suggest, incorrectly, that Armenian cochineal insects were more valuable, by weight, than gold (i.e., one gram of insects was worth several grams of gold) during this era. Cardon (2007) does, however, note that according to the records of a Venetian merchant trading in Constantinople during the 1430s, even the cheapest Armenian cochineal insects were still worth more, pound-for-pound, than some live slaves (Circassian women and adolescents) that he had bought.〕 The crimson ''Porphyrophora''-based dyes were especially prized in Europe for dyeing silk, as the scarlet dye kermes was more plentiful, cheaper, and more effective for dyeing woolen textiles, which are heavier than silk and require more dye.〔 It has been estimated that on the order of a half million dried ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' insects were required to dye of silk crimson during this period.〔〔400,000 to 560,000 dried ''P. hamelii'' insects were required to dye 1 kg of silk according to the figures of Cardon (2007): 1,000 g to 1,400 g of dried insects per 100 g of silk, with 40 adult females per gram of dried insects. Note that Virey (1840) reports 18,000–23,000 insects per 360-gram troy pound (50–64 insects per gram; not stated whether they were dried).〕 On the comparison between Armenian and Polish cochineal, the author of a 15th-century treatise on silks in Florence wrote that "two pounds of the large Armenian cochineal insects will dye as much silk as one pound of small Polish cochineal insects; it is true that it gives a more noble and brighter colour than the small, but it gives less dye."〔 Around the end of the 16th century the Old World ''Porphyrophora'' dyes were supplanted by dyes of the ''Dactylopius coccus'' cochineal species from the Americas, which could be harvested several times per year and yielded a much more concentrated dye.〔 The carmine dyestuff of ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' owes its red color almost entirely to carminic acid, making it difficult to distinguish chemically from cochineal carmine from the Americas.〔〔〔〔 The carmine of ''Porphyrophora polonica'' can be distinguished by its small admixture of kermesic acid, which is the major constituent of kermes from ''Kermes vermilio''. In 1833 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt suggested the scientific name ''Porphyrophora hamelii'' after the Russian physician, traveler, and historian of German descent Iosif Khristianovich Gamel (Josef Hamel) (ru), who visited the Ararat plain in the early 1830s and wrote a report about the "cochineal" insects living there.〔. Publication of Hamel's 4 May 1833 report on the Ararat cochineal. Hamel's report mentions Brandt.〕 File:Vordan Karmir (Cochineal Red) ornament on the ceiling of S. Grigor Chapel, Noravank monastery.jpg|''Vordan karmir'' ceiling art at Noravank Monastery File:Խաչքար Գեղարդ27.JPG|''Khachkars'' (cross-stones) at Geghard Monastery painted with ''vordan karmir'' File:Armenian Stamp Karmin.jpg|A 2006 Armenian postage stamp depicting ''P. hamelii'' File:Saint Bertrand de Comminges-Gants et Chaussons.jpg|Silk liturgical gloves (left) of Cardinal Pierre de Foix (15th century), dyed crimson with ''P. hamelii'' carmine〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Armenian cochineal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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