Poised Vale Royal

Old French peser, to weigh — past-participle of poise. As a color modifier, poised implies a saturated-and-balanced-and-confident quality where the hue holds its position with elegant equilibrium. Sits at the bold-and-confident end of the grid, parallel to centered and composed.

Latin vallis, valley. As a color modifier, vale implies a broad-pastoral-valley quality, the visual register of Cotswold-and-Yorkshire-Dales wide river-valley pasture-and-hedgerow agricultural surfaces in spring-and-autumn pastoral-and-overcast English afternoon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to glen and dale 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.