Posts tagged with "dye"



12. July 2024
1925 Chinese calendar poster advertisement for BASF featuring Mei Lanfang and designed by Hang Zhiying. From the MOFBA collection.
Cross-dressing KOL’s, German dyes and Republican China’s most prolific commercial artist: This gorgeous 1925 calendar poster for BASF from our collection, ties back to a lot of topics we previously covered. Follow along for a short but colorful review.
17. March 2024
Original ca. 1940 BASF / I.G. Farben Chinese advertising poster for Indanthrene dye featuring actress Nancy Chan. From the MOFBA collection.
This gorgeous 1940s advertising poster for Indanthrene dye from our collection, features acclaimed Chinese actress Nancy Chan. It also tells the story of a chemical innovation from Germany that deeply influenced the popularization of the iconic Cheongsam or Qipao dress in China. The Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik, better known as BASF, was founded in Mannheim, Germany in 1865 and had already been actively marketing and selling its “Indigo Pure” dyes in China since 1885.
09. January 2023
A tin advertising for Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning depicting an imagined scene of a medieval German king meeting a Qing Dynasty emperor. From the MOFBA collection.
"Once upon a time, on a fair and wondrous day, the brave King of the Franks did journey to the fabled land of Cathay. Resplendent in his ermine-trimmed robes, he arrived at the Imperial Palace in the celestial city of Beijing. There, he was greeted with the utmost reverence by the Son of Heaven, the august Emperor of China, who was attired in his finest silks and adorned with glittering jewels. When the two monarchs took their seats of honor, a hush fell over the court, for all knew that this...
21. February 2022
01. February 2022
Happy Chinese New Year from the M.O.F.B.A.! 恭贺新禧! Brought to you by BASF Indanthrene - the bluest of blue since 1901.
08. November 2021
The Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate formed in 1925. In China I.G. Farben marketed itself as 大德颜料厂 - "Big German Dye Factory". It's official Chinese distribution company, Deutsche Farbenhandelsgesellschaft Waibel & Co. aka DEFAG (德孚洋行), was founded in Shanghai on January 1, 1927.
26. July 2021
10. May 2021
Cut in the shape of a butterfly - "The cloth that never fades". The blue dye was discovered in 1901 by German chemical manufacturer BASF (later shareholder of the IG Farben conglomerate). BASF had been active in China since 1885 and Indanthrene dye immediately won great popularity among Chinese women who began to wear qipao dresses of such bright blue cotton fabric.