Devout Shine Royal

From the Latin devotus, consecrated — used principally in religious contexts for the dignified deep colors of sacred art and ecclesiastical dress. As a color modifier, devout implies saturation combined with restraint: the deep blues of Marian mantles, the deep reds of cardinals' robes. Sits in the bold-and-formal corner alongside imperial.

Old English scīnan, to-shine. As a color modifier, shine implies a polished-and-reflective-light quality, the visual register of polished-silver-and-bronze-shine hand-polished-and-buffed silver-and-bronze-and-brass-and-tin polished-and-reflective-shine surfaces under polished-silver-and-bronze-shine workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to gloss and sleek 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.