Plumbed Axis Ultramarine

Latin plumbum, lead — past-participle of plumb (to measure depth with a lead-weighted line). As a color modifier, plumbed implies a deep-and-cool quality measured-to-its-fullest-depth, the dark cool-gray of lead-and-pewter metallic surfaces. Sits at the deep-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to fathomless with metallic register.

Latin axis, axle-or-pivot. As a color modifier, axis implies a rotational-pole-and-polar-spin quality, the visual register of Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-axis hand-rotational-pole-and-polar-spin Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-and-celestial-pole axis-and-rotational-pole-and-polar-spin surfaces under Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-and-celestial-pole 23.5-degree-and-precession-and-celestial-mechanics polar-pivot-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to orbit and zenith 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.