Tomblike Mesh Ultramarine

Greek tymbos, tomb — adjectival suffix -like. As a color modifier, tomblike implies the deep-and-funereal-and-sepulchral quality of Etruscan-and-Egyptian rock-cut royal-tomb interiors, particularly the Valley-of-the-Kings and Cerveteri-necropolis hand-carved chamber-painting walls. Sits at the deep-and-funereal end of the grid, parallel to sepulchral and crypted.

Old English mæscre, netting. As a color modifier, mesh implies a netted-and-woven-network quality, the visual register of hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh hand-knotted-and-woven-net wire-and-fiber-and-cord-mesh hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh-and-net surfaces under hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh-and-net working light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to wire and web in usage.

The pigment ground from lapis lazuli — the Afghan mineral imported through Venice in the late Middle Ages, more expensive by weight than gold during the Renaissance. The color refers to a freshly mixed ultramarine pigment in linseed oil: a saturated, slightly violet-shifted deep blue with the matte finish of micron-ground rock. Deeper than cobalt, cooler than royal, with the art-historical weight of the blue Vermeer reserved for Mary's robe.