Royal Mast Violet

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.

Old English mæst, long-pole. As a color modifier, mast implies a tall-pole-with-sails quality, the visual register of Tall-Ship-and-Royal-Navy-Mast hand-rigged tall-mast-with-sail-and-yard tall-ship-and-frigate maritime-architecture surfaces under tall-ship-mast-and-yard maritime-overhead light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to spar and boom in usage.

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.