Anchored Knight 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.

Old English cniht, young-man / knight. As a color modifier, knight implies a chivalric-and-armored quality, the visual register of English-Plantagenet-and-French-Capetian hand-forged plate-armor-and-shield-and-lance-and-pennant knightly-and-chivalric surfaces under English-Plantagenet-and-French-Capetian chivalric-armored-knight ceremonial-court light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to squire and page 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.