Specimen, Cake of Cochineal Insects, 1841

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from National Museum of Natural History as part of Nature by Design: Cochineal.

SCIENCE AND HISTORY OF COCHINEAL

Used as a dye in the Americas as early as the 2nd century BCE, cochineal [Dactylopius coccus], a tiny scale insect that feeds on the prickly pear [Opuntia ficus-indica] and nopal [Nopalea spp.] cacti, was harvested in protective farms that required a mastery of agricultural skills. The insect’s red carminic acid can only be extracted from females, and first requires the bugs to be dried thoroughly and then mixed with water and a mordant to produce the dye. When cochineal entered the global market in the 16th century, it was traded around the world in flattened cakes of dried insects held together with clay or flour, a technique traditionally used by the Aztecs. However, before the invention of the microscope, cochineal evaded identification and in Europe this mystery fueled scientific research and competition until it was accurately described, first by Nicolaas Hartsoeker in 1694 and then by Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek when he published the first detailed drawings of the insect in 1704.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Nature by Design: Cochineal.