Pink and Orange Clothes in Art

The Türkisches Kostümbuch, painted in 1574 by Lambert de Vos, is an oft-copied album of watercolors done while de Vos was in Istanbul. Several of the figures wear orange or a strong pink. One picture shows a man in a pink kaftan dining with men who wear true red clothes, which confirms that the artist didn’t use pink as a replacement for red.

The Codex Vindobonensis 8615, painted c. 1585 by Johannes Lewenklaw, features several women dressed in orange as well as some figures wearing true red.

The Siyar-i Nabî, 1594-1595, is an illustrated manuscript of a Turkish translation of one of the classic biographies of Muhammad. The male costumes appear to be pseudo-Arabic, but the female costumes and the domestic details are Turkish. Almost every picture has someone dressed in pink, or orange, or both.

The Album of Ahmed I, dated circa 1610 and painted by multiple Turkish artists, contains examples of both orange and true red. It also contains a couple shades of pinkish-purple, which may be meant to depict purple, pink, or a shade in between.

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