Gallant Eave Mulberry

Old French galant, brave / charming — present-participle of galer (to make merry). As a color modifier, gallant implies a saturated-and-chivalrous-and-confident quality, the deep-rich color of Three-Musketeers and Cyrano-de-Bergerac swashbuckling adventure tradition. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to valiant and heroic.

Old English efes, roof-edge. As a color modifier, eave implies a roof-overhang-and-edge quality, the visual register of Japanese-engawa-and-English-eave hand-built roof-overhang-and-edge eave-and-fascia-and-soffit architectural surfaces under Japanese-and-English eave-edge filtered light. Sits at the modifier-and-architecture end of the grid, parallel to gable and frieze in usage.

The genus Morus — the white mulberry (M. alba) feeds silkworms; the black mulberry (M. nigra) bears the deep purple fruit that stains everything it touches. The color refers to a ripe black mulberry: a saturated, slightly red-shifted very deep purple with the slight juiciness of a compound fruit. Cooler than wine, warmer than indigo, with the agricultural weight of a tree that supported the entire Chinese silk industry for two thousand years.