Cobalt blue is a
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
pigment
A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic comp ...
made by
sintering
Clinker nodules produced by sintering
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...
cobalt(II) oxide with
aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl
2O
4. Cobalt blue is lighter and less intense than the (iron-cyanide based) pigment
Prussian blue
Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue or, in painting, Parisian or Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula Fe Cyanide.html" ;"title="e(Cyanide">CN ...
. It is extremely stable and historically has been used as a coloring agent in ceramics (especially
Chinese porcelain
Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since Chinese Neolithic, pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the List of Palaeolithic sites in China, ...
), jewelry, and paint. Transparent
glass
Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...
es are tinted with the silica-based cobalt pigment "smalt".
Historical uses and production
Ores containing cobalt have been used since antiquity as pigments to give a blue color to porcelain and glass. Cobalt blue in impure forms had long been used in
Chinese porcelain
Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since Chinese Neolithic, pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the List of Palaeolithic sites in China, ...
. In 1742, Swedish chemist
Georg Brandt showed that the blue color was due to a previously unidentified metal, cobalt. The first recorded use of ''cobalt blue'' as a color name in
English was in 1777. It was independently discovered as a pure alumina-based pigment by
Louis Jacques Thénard
Louis Jacques Thénard (4 May 177721 June 1857) was a French chemist.
Life
He was born in a farm cottage near Nogent-sur-Seine in the Champagne district
the son of a farm worker. In the post-Revolution French educational system , most boys rec ...
in 1802. Commercial production began in France in 1807. The leading world manufacturer of cobalt blue in the nineteenth century was
Benjamin Wegner
Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant.
Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an indepe ...
's Norwegian company
Blaafarveværket ("
blue colour works" in Dano-Norwegian). Germany also was famous for production of it, especially the blue colour works (''Blaufarbenwerke'') in the
Ore Mountains of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
.
Cobalt glass is used decoratively, and also as an
optical filter
An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits light of different wavelengths, usually implemented as a glass plane or plastic device in the optical path, which are either dyed in the bulk or have interference coatings. The optic ...
to remove or hide certain visible colors.
In human culture
Art
* Cobalt blue was the primary blue pigment used for centuries in Chinese
blue and white porcelain, beginning in the late eighth or early ninth century.
* Traditional Bunzlauer pottery made by Germans from Bunzlau also made an extensive use of cobalt blue glaze. The pigment was used along with white in classic patterns of blue and white dots before the synthetic production of more variously-colored pigments (yielding such colors as green, red, orange).
* Watercolorist
John Varley John Varley may refer to:
* John Varley (canal engineer) (1740–1809), English canal engineer
* John Varley (painter) (1778–1842), English painter and astrologer
* John Varley (author) (born 1947), American science fiction author
* John Silvest ...
suggested cobalt blue as a good substitution for
ultramarine
Ultramarine is a deep blue color pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The name comes from the Latin ''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afgh ...
for painting skies, writing in his "List of Colours" from 1818: "Used as a substitute for ultramarine in its brightness of colour, and superior when used in skies and other objects, which require even tints; used occasionally in retrieving the brightness of those tints when too heavy, and for tints in drapery, etc. Capable, by its superior brilliancy and contrast, to subdue the brightness of other blues."
* Cobalt blue has been used in paintings since its discovery by Thénard, by painters such as
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
,
Impressionists
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
such as
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
and
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, and
Post-Impressionists
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...
such as
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
. It is stable and lightfast and also compatible with all other pigments.
*
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. His career spann ...
, partially famous for the intensity of his skyscapes, frequently used cobalt blue, and as a result cobalt blue sometimes is called Parrish blue.
* Cobalt blue is a commonly used color for interior decorating.
Automobiles
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded ...
* Several car manufacturers including
Jeep
Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Motors ...
and
Bugatti
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then- German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The ca ...
have cobalt blue as paint options.
Construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
* Because of its chemical stability in the presence of alkali, cobalt blue is used as a pigment in blue
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...
.
Sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
* Two
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
teams have cobalt blue as a secondary color:
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in ...
from its inception, and
Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse an ...
on its home uniforms since
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...
.
Vexillology
Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synth ...
* Several countries including the
Netherlands
)
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, established_title = Before independence
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and
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
, and a U.S. state –
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
– have cobalt blue as one of three shades of their
flags.
Video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
s
*
Sega's official logo color is cobalt blue.
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformer ...
, Sega's current mascot, was colored to match.
File:Cobalt blue hue.png, An example of cobalt blue hue (''not pure cobalt blue'')
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - La Yole.jpg, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, ''Boating on the Seine (La Yole)'',
Toxicity
Cobalt blue is toxic when ingested or inhaled. Its use requires appropriate precautions to avoid internal contamination and to prevent
cobalt poisoning
Cobalt poisoning is intoxication caused by excessive levels of cobalt in the body. Cobalt is an essential element for health in animals in minute amounts as a component of Vitamin B. A deficiency of cobalt, which is very rare, is also potentially ...
.
Natural occurrence
A single record of the compound concerns inclusions in sapphires from a single site.
See also
*
RAL 5013 Cobalt blue
The following is a list of RAL Classic colours from the RAL colour standard. The visual samples are approximate and informative only.
RAL Classic Yellow and beige
Orange
Red
Violet
Blue
Green
Grey
Brown
White and b ...
*
Lists of colors
These are the lists of colors;
* List of colors: A–F
* List of colors: G–M
* List of colors: N–Z
* List of colors (compact)
* List of colors by shade
* List of color palettes
* List of Crayola crayon colors
* List of RAL colors
* List ...
*
List of inorganic pigments
The following list includes commercially or artistically important inorganic pigments of natural and synthetic origin..
Purple pigments
Aluminum pigments
* Ultramarine violet: (PV15) - a synthetic or naturally occurring sulfur containing silic ...
*
Cobalt phosphate
Cobalt phosphate is the inorganic compound with the formula Co3(PO4)2. It is a commercial inorganic pigment known as cobalt violet.Hugo Müller, Wolfgang Müller, Manfred Wehner, Heike Liewald "Artists' Colors" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industr ...
References
Further reading
* Roy, A. "Cobalt blue", in ''Artists' Pigments'', Berrie, B. H., Ed., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2007
* Wood, J.R. and Hsu Yi-Ting, 2019, ''An Archaeometallurgical Explanation for the Disappearance of Egyptian and Near Eastern Cobalt-Blue Glass at the end of the Late Bronze Age'', ''Internet Archaeology'' 52
Internet Archaeology
External links
*
Cobalt blue– ColourLex
– Internet Archaeology
{{Shades of blue, Cobalt
Cobalt compounds
French inventions
Inorganic pigments
Shades of blue
Glass dyes