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<\/p>\nAN EXPERT has recreated a mysterious ancient pigment that has been lost for centuries- and was once worth three times its weight in gold.<\/p>\n
Mohammed Ghassen Nouira from Tunis, Tunisia, now displays pigments and dyed products resembling true Tyrian purple at exhibitions all over the world.<\/p>\n
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One of the most legendary commodities in the ancient world, the reddish-purple natural dye began as a clear fluid produced by sea snails in the Murex family. More specifically, it was mucous.<\/p>\n
Extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labour but by the 15th Century, the elaborate recipes to extract and process the dye had been lost.<\/p>\n
But in a small garden hut in north-eastern Tunisia, Mohammed has spent most of the last 16 years attempting to produce something resembling the highly valued colour.<\/p>\n
It began with his usual lunchtime walk on a beach on the outskirts of Tunis in September 2007.<\/p>\n
"There had been a horrible storm the previous night, so there were a lot of dead creatures on the sand, like jellyfish, seaweeds, small crabs, molluscs," Mohammed told the BBC.<\/p>\n The consulting manager then spotted a reddish-purple liquid oozing out of a cracked sea snail and was instantly reminded of a story he'd learned at school \u2013 the legend of Tyrian purple.<\/p>\n This dye became a sign of power for generational rulers, including Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, who became obsessed with it.<\/p>\n Tyrian purple has even been found in paintings dating back to the Bronze Age.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Nonetheless, Mohammed raced to the local harbour where he found a fisherman plucking the creatures out of his net and putting them in an old tomato can \u2013 which he took back to his apartment.<\/p>\n "My wife was horrified by the smell; she almost kicked me out of the house\u2026 But I had to carry on", Mohammed said.<\/p>\n After a failed experiment that night, though, the Tunisian put it all in a bag to throw away.<\/p>\n But the next day, the bag's contents had undergone a huge transformation.<\/p>\n "At that time, I had no clue that the purple was initially transparent \u2013 it's like water," Mohammed said.<\/p>\n In order to jolt the chemicals in Murex snails out of their colourless state, they need to be exposed to visible light.<\/p>\n However, this doesn't instantly turn into Tyrian purple.<\/p>\n Even if the desired colour is achieved, there is still more processing to do to turn the pigments into a dye, such as converting them into forms that will stick to fabric.<\/p>\n Despite these difficulties, Mohammed wanted to make it the old way, and rediscover the authentic shade that was venerated for millennia.<\/p>\n It was years before he made his first powdered dye but even then it was nothing like Tyrian purple – and extremely dusty.<\/p>\n But after more years of trial and error, Mohammed eventually ended up with pure pigments and dyes that he thinks are uncannily close to true Tyrian purple.<\/p>\n "It [the colour] is very alive, very dynamic," he says. "Depending on the light, it shifts and shimmers\u2026 it keeps changing and playing tricks on your eyes."<\/p>\n Mohammed has already exhibited his work at the British Museum in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, while he has even become a culinary expert on sea snail recipes.<\/p>\n But with Murex sea snails under threat from a barrage of human influences, Tyrian purple is already under threat from being lost once more.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/1900-thursday-november-23-undated-861556250.jpg\")
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