Persian blue comes in three major tones: Persian blue proper: a bright medium

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

; medium Persian blue (a medium slightly grayish blue that is slightly indigoish); and a kind of dark

which is referred to as Persian indigo, dark Persian blue, or regimental, that is much closer to the web color

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

. Other colors associated with Persia include Persian pink, Persian rose, Persian red, Persian orange and Persian green.

Persian blue

The color Persian blue is named from the blue color of some Persian pottery and the color of

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...

s used in and on mosques and palaces in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and in other places in the Middle East. ''Persian blue'' is a representation of the color of the mineral

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

which comes from

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The color azure is also named after the mineral lapis lazuli. The first recorded use of ''Persian blue'' as a color name in English was in 1669.

Variations

Medium Persian blue

The medium tone of Persian blue shown at right is the color called ''Persian blue'' in color sample #178 of the ISCC-NBS color list.

Persian indigo

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. ''Persian indigo'' is named for an association with a product from Persia: Persian cloth dyed with

. The first recorded use of ''regimental'' (the original name for the color now called Persian indigo) as a color name in English was in 1912.

In human culture

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

* Many

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s in

, such as the enormous Shah Mosque in

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

, have interiors that are faced with

s that are ''Persian blue'' or close variations of it. Picture of the Interior of the Shah Mosque:

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

* The color ''Persian indigo'', which as noted above was originally called ''regimental'', was called by that name because it used to be the color of the

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

uniforms of a number of different

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

s in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to the fact that it was easy and inexpensive to use

indigo dye Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive indigo, blue color. Indigo is a natural dye obtained from the leaves of some plants of the Indigofera#Uses, ''Indigofera'' genus, in particular ''Indigofera tinctoria''. Dye-bearing ''Indigofer ...

to dye navy uniforms.

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

* The

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

books (on topics such as the seven rays) written by the

Prophetess Alice A. Bailey (which she claimed to have channeled from the

ascended master Ascended masters, also known as Mahatmas, are believed in several theosophical and related spiritual traditions to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans. Through a series of spiritual transformations, ...

Djwal Khul), published by the Lucis Trust and called by her followers the '' Alice A. Bailey material'', in earlier editions up to and including the 1970s were originally bound in matte ''medium Persian blue'', but since the 1980s, they have been bound in glossy ''Persian blue''.

Persian carpet A Persian carpet ( ), Persian rug ( ),Savory, R., ''Carpets'',(Encyclopaedia Iranica); accessed 30 January 2007. or Iranian carpet is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in Iran (histo ...

s * When blue

s are produced in Iran, ''medium Persian blue'' is one of the most commonly used tones of blue.

References

External links

* (1870): A painting by

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

which shows a snake charmer in a Persian market with Persian blue tiles in the background {{Persian colors Shades of blue