47666 IMGR23

DRESSING THE SK1NS

Many variarions of ihc uwing process are pos&iblc but as no tarły examplcs havc «mvwed, h is noc known just how tbe odginał guaiameci was madę nor predśdy what were ics propaucs. Ancient accounts indicate ihat k was supplc, durablc and polkbcd on tbe iuiŁice. which sccms to indicate some kind of subsidiaty dressing. As tbe manufacture of cquivalent leathcn sprcad over Europę tbere must have bccn variarions botfa in tbe type of skin used and in tbe mcthod of dressing cmployed.

What was it thal diwinguishcd tbe Hispano-Mocesguc gaaiśmedes from anyihing that preccded them - tannage, colour, type of pek, or gilding? It is elear that tawtd leather had bccn a regular product ihroughout tbe Middlc East for many centuria prior to tbe Moorish conqucst of Spain, and tbe probability is that tbe process was ałready known to tbe inhabitants of tbe Ibertan peninsula. Was it, perhaps, tbe famed red colour that was brought from Noctb Afnca, wbere in Herodotus* day (500 b.c.) Libyan women wore dresso of red leather?¹ It has bccn suggested that tbe fine bright red of tbe Cordoban leather was obcained by tbe addition of dn taks to tbe alum, both capable of acting as a mordant for kermes, one of tbe carlicst dyc-stuffś, known to have bccn used in ancient Egypt. But about a.d. 1000 Eradius docribed tbe use of madder:² 'To dye Cordovan leather. Takc tbe undyed leather, purt ml wbite. Wash tbe hair sidc widt alum. Take madder. Place it with urine in a coppcr vcsscl and beat, but no moce dian tbe band endures. Submcrgc tbe leather in tbe vessel. Draw foith to see if it be red cooogh. When dyed sufficiently, lec dry by strctching on a levcl board. Rub smooth with a boxwood Staff. Thcn takc grease, rub it all ovcr and lec dty.’ It is known that madder was still used in later times for dyeing guaimeą: a Cordoban ordinancc of 1545³ striedy forbade the use of any other dye. Madder, as opposed to kermes, was not used in Egypt to ptoduce a red dye until the Gracco-Roman period :* it was probably introduced tbere from Greece where the madder plant is indigenous. The cvidence is incondusive. Either kermes or madder, or both, might have been introduced into Spain by the Moors, but could also have bccn familiar bcforc their arrival.

Therc is a possibility that the Spaniards madę a significant contribution in the field, namely the kind of pelt used, but as nonę of the ancient leathers is known to have survivcd, tbere can be no certainty about it or its significance. In Blount’s Glossograpbia of 1656, tmder ‘Cordoban Leather* is found: 'In the islands of Corsica and Sardmśa tbere u a

' Herodocui. iv (Pcnguin edirion. p. 190).

•Or Cffcrda 1 et Atśm Rmmmm, c 1000. Quoud in Mcnifidd, Mn. M.P, Pmt*lm AEmsturt, ttt.,

> Ordaunus munidfulo dd Aichh-o dd Ayuniimiauo de Cócdobi, I, fol ip" Plimed ia Cwdtgt Aom* dr li    i CmUmts j Gmimuks, Sodedad EepAola de Amigu dd A*. 19JJ. P- ij- See

Appenda F. Iicm », pace 9$. and noce •.

• Rond, W. J., in Pctńc. W. F, MeUm. i»oa. p 44-