Pressed Grace Teal

Latin pressāre, to press — past-participle of press. As a color modifier, pressed implies a clear-and-smoothed-and-flattened quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern freshly-pressed-shirt-and-trouser ironed-textile finish. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to ironed and starched in usage.

Latin gratia, favor-or-thankfulness. As a color modifier, grace implies a flowing-and-elegant-and-blessed quality, the visual register of Botticelli-Three-Graces-and-Apollonian-grace hand-flowing-and-elegant-and-blessed Botticelli-Three-Graces-and-Apollonian-and-Renaissance-classical graced-and-flowing-and-elegant-and-blessed surfaces under Botticelli-Three-Graces-and-Apollonian-and-Renaissance-classical chiton-and-laurel-wreath-and-fountain Florentine-pavilion-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to charm and bliss in usage.

Anas crecca, the small dabbling duck whose male in breeding plumage sports a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green-blue stripe. The color refers to that stripe — the iridescent panel just behind the eye: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical depth of structural color rather than pigment. Cooler than cypress, warmer than cerulean, with the ornithological specificity of a color named for one feather of one bird.