Persian blue

<h2 id="persian-blue">Persian blue</h2>
<p>The color Persian blue is named from the blue color of some <a href="/facts/Iranian_pottery/Bqelo441">Persian pottery</a> and the color of <a href="/facts/Tile/vk9El8Ty">tiles</a> used in and on <a href="/facts/Iranian_architecture/5E1dEuXW">mosques and palaces</a> in <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a> and in other places in the Middle East.  <i>Persian blue</i> is a representation of the color of the mineral <a href="/facts/Lapis_lazuli/KKPFyQFN">lapis lazuli</a> which comes from <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Persia</a> and <a href="/facts/Afghanistan/v63Auu1C">Afghanistan</a>. The color <a href="/facts/Azure_(color)/SRYwa2Er">azure</a> is also named after the mineral lapis lazuli.
</p><p>The first recorded use of <i>Persian blue</i> as a color name in <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English</a> was in 1669.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
</p>

<h2 id="variations">Variations</h2>
<h3>Medium Persian blue</h3>

<p>The medium tone of Persian blue shown at right is the color called <i>Persian blue</i> in color sample #178 of the ISCC-NBS color list.
</p>
<h3>Persian indigo</h3>

<p>The color Persian indigo is displayed at right. Another name for this color is regimental because in the 19th century it was commonly used by many nations for navy uniforms, though it is seldom used in modern times.
</p><p><i>Persian indigo</i> is named for an association with a product from Persia: Persian cloth dyed with <a href="/facts/Indigo_dye/aqC7umcC">indigo</a>.
</p><p>The first recorded use of <i>regimental</i> (the original name for the color now called Persian indigo) as a color name in English was in 1912.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p>

<h2 id="in-human-culture">In human culture</h2>

<p><a href="/facts/Architecture/FccThs8G">Architecture</a>
</p>
<ul><li>Many <a href="/facts/Mosque/U51uY78w">mosques</a> in <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>, such as the enormous <a href="/facts/Shah_Mosque_(Isfahan)/Eu5XCNUj">Shah Mosque</a> in <a href="/facts/Isfahan/BLw4k2fm">Isfahan</a>, have interiors that are faced with <a href="/facts/Tile/vk9El8Ty">tiles</a> that are <i>Persian blue</i> or close variations of it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul>
<p><a href="/facts/Military_science/up3hKbIj">Military</a>
</p>
<ul><li>The color <i>Persian indigo</i>, which as noted above was originally called <i>regimental</i>, was called by that name because it used to be the color of the <a href="/facts/Navy/TwPq0TNP">navy</a> uniforms of a number of different <a href="/facts/Nation/ed3XkH6y">nations</a> in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to the fact  that it was easy and inexpensive to use <a href="/facts/Indigo_dye/aqC7umcC">indigo dye</a> to dye navy uniforms.</li></ul>
<p><a href="/facts/New_Age/6cr8V2zG">New Age</a> <a href="/facts/Metaphysics/fSFt6SHe">Metaphysics</a>
</p>
<ul><li>The <a href="/facts/Metaphysics/fSFt6SHe">metaphysical</a> books (on topics such as the <a href="/facts/Seven_Rays/6qeYBuTe">seven rays</a>) written by the <a href="/facts/New_Age/6cr8V2zG">New Age</a> Prophetess <a href="/facts/Alice_A._Bailey/FQMNhEQg">Alice A. Bailey</a> (which she claimed to have <a href="/facts/Mediumship/PSrcEtXq">channeled</a> from the <a href="/facts/Ascended_master/xvn65TD6">ascended master</a> <a href="/facts/Djwal_Khul/7I4J73ts">Djwal Khul</a>), published by the <a href="/facts/Lucis_Trust/pbKyBVc2">Lucis Trust</a> and called by her followers the <i><a href="/facts/Alice_Bailey/FQMNhEQg">Alice A. Bailey material</a></i>, in earlier editions up to and including the 1970s were originally bound in <a href="/facts/Gloss_(material_appearance)/ddPfsC5I">matte</a> <i>medium Persian blue</i>, but since the 1980s, they have been bound in <a href="/facts/Glossy/ddPfsC5I">glossy</a> <i>Persian blue</i>.</li></ul>
<p><a href="/facts/Persian_carpet/dCNUwSyR">Persian carpets</a>
</p>
<ul><li>When blue <a href="/facts/Persian_carpet/dCNUwSyR">Persian carpets</a> are produced in Iran, <i>medium Persian blue</i> is one of the most commonly used tones of blue.</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li> Media related to The Snake Charmer at Wikimedia Commons (1870): A painting by <a href="/facts/Jean-L%25C3%25A9on_G%25C3%25A9r%25C3%25B4me/bPEE3Ig2">Jean-Léon Gérôme</a> which shows a snake charmer in a Persian market with Persian blue tiles in the background</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201; color sample of Persian blue: Page 95 Plate 36 Color Sample L4 <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 203 (It is also stated under the entry on Persian Blue on page 201 that the color on Plate 47 Color Sample C10 (regimental) is a [darker] tone of Persian Blue.); color sample of Regimental: Page 117 Plate 47 Color Sample C10 <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Picture of the Interior of the Shah Mosque: <a href="/wiki/File:Shah_mosque2.jpg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:Shah_mosque2.jpg</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Persian blue open-in-new

Persian blue