Sumptuous Silk Indigo

Latin sūmptuōsus, expensive — derived from sūmptus (expense). As a color modifier, sumptuous implies a saturated-and-rich-and-luxurious quality, the deep-rich color of Burgundy-and-Champagne-Court late-medieval silk-and-velvet livery in the Très-Riches-Heures manuscript tradition. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to opulent and lavish.

Old English sēolc, silk. As a color modifier, silk implies a smooth-and-lustrous-textile quality, the visual register of Chinese-Han-and-Italian-Renaissance-silk hand-reeled silk-fiber-and-mulberry-leaf-silkworm Han-and-Renaissance silk-textile surfaces under hand-reeled-silk-textile filtered light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to wool and lace in usage.

Indigofera tinctoria, the South Asian legume whose leaves yield the deep blue dye that has clothed humanity for at least four thousand years — Egyptian linen, Mayan textile, the slave-grown plantations of Carolina. The color refers to a freshly indigo-dyed cotton thread: a saturated, slightly violet-shifted deep blue with the slight lustre of a fiber surface oxidized in air. Deeper than cobalt, cooler than royal.