Sumptuous Spire 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 spīr, blade-of-grass / point. As a color modifier, spire implies a tall-pointed-vertical quality, the visual register of Salisbury-Cathedral-and-Chartres-Cathedral hand-built tall-pointed Gothic-and-Romanesque cathedral-spire architectural surfaces under tall-cathedral-spire-against-sky light. Sits at the modifier-and-architecture end of the grid, parallel to tower and turret 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.