Anchored Horus Royal

The past participle of anchor, used since the late nineteenth century as a metaphor for secured in place. As a color word, anchored implies a deep saturated tone that grounds a palette — the dark blues, deep greens, and browns that hold a composition together. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside solid.

Egyptian Heru, falcon-headed-sky-god. As a color modifier, horus implies a falcon-headed-and-Eye-of-Horus quality, the visual register of Egyptian-Horus-and-Edfu-temple hand-falcon-headed-and-Eye-of-Horus Egyptian-Horus-and-Edfu-temple-and-falcon-pharaoh horus-and-falcon-headed-and-Eye-of-Horus surfaces under Egyptian-Horus-and-Edfu-temple-and-falcon-pharaoh Edfu-Aswan-temple-and-falcon-throne falcon-eye-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to isis and thoth in usage.

The blue of European royal court dress and regalia from the late seventeenth century forward — the color of British peers' robes, French royal sashes, the lining of the crown-jewel cases. The color refers to a saturated, slightly violet-shifted blue with the matte finish of velvet or melton wool dyed to maximum intensity: deeper than cornflower, warmer than ultramarine, with the heraldic weight of a color reserved for monarchs and the official Crown.