Sourcing and Consumption of Alum in the Dyeing Company Francesco di Giuliano Salviati e Comp., tintori d’Arte Maggiore in Florence (1483-1498)

Abstract

Based on evidence provided by three manuscript account books preserved in the Archivio Salviati (Pisa), this study offers a direct insight into the importance of alum used in mordanting processes, in a dyeing company specialized in fast mordant dyes in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century. It provides further evidence confirming the new rise in Florentine broadcloth production in the second half of the fifteenth century, largely linked to the conquest of the huge markets of the Ottoman Empire by Florentine merchants.