Saturnine Banafsheh
Saturnine Banafsheh (#281559) is a deep indigo with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (257°, 62%, 22%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Latin Sāturnīnus, of Saturn — referring to the gloomy temperament associated with the planet Saturn in classical-and-Renaissance astrology. As a color modifier, saturnine implies a deep-and-cool-and-gloomy quality, the dark cool-gray of Hellebore-and-Lead alchemical-melancholic associations. Sits at the deep-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to sullen and gloomy.
Persian بنفشه, the Viola odorata sweet violet — the diminutive of banafsh, used for the flower itself rather than the color. Banafsheh is a stock floral motif in Iranian poetry (Hafez, Rumi) symbolizing transient beauty. Banafsheh color refers to a freshly opened Viola odorata petal: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-violet with the velvet finish of a fresh viola petal.
Closest matches
The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.
Variations
Click any swatch to exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.
The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.