The Price of Purple

A small sea snail with an extraordinarily expensive claim to fame.

The Price of Purple is part of my Beautiful Things We’ve Killed for Art series, exploring the animals behind materials once prized by artists. Certain Mediterranean sea snails, including species historically known as murex, supplied the raw material for Tyrian purple — one of the ancient world's most coveted dyes.

Nerd notes

Making Tyrian purple took an extraordinary number of snails — thousands could be sacrificed for a relatively small amount of dye. The labour-intensive process helped make the colour enormously expensive and, for centuries, a symbol of wealth and status.

The process involved extracting the snails' dye-producing glands and letting the material rot and develop, producing a notoriously powerful smell. Purple-dye workshops were often located on the outskirts of settlements. Prestige, it seems, was best appreciated from a distance.

Details

Handmade, one-of-a-kind artwork

Unframed

A4 — 21 × 29.7 cm (8.3 × 11.7 in)

Mixed media collage on paper