Puce

From HandWiki
Short description: Color
Puce
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#CC8899
Source99colors.net
ISCC–NBS descriptorDark pink

Puce is a brownish purple color. The term comes from the French couleur puce, literally meaning "flea color".[1]

Puce became popular in the late 18th century in France. It appeared in clothing at the court of Louis XVI, and was said to be a favorite color of Marie Antoinette, though there are no portraits of her wearing it.[2][3][4]

Puce was also a popular fashion color in 19th-century Paris. In one of his novels, Émile Zola describes a woman "dressed in a dark gown of an equivocal color, somewhere between puce and goose shit."[5] In Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Mademoiselle Baptistine wears "a gown of puce-colored silk, of the fashion of 1806, which she had purchased at that date in Paris, and which had lasted ever since."[6]

Variations of puce

Puce (ISCC-NBS)

Puce (ISCC-NBS)
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#722F37
SourceISCC-NBS
ISCC–NBS descriptorDark red

The color to the right is the color called puce in the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955). Since this color has a hue code of 353, it is a slightly purplish red.

Puce (Maerz and Paul)

Puce (M&P)
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#A95C68
SourceMaerz and Paul
ISCC–NBS descriptorModerate red

The color box to the right shows the color called puce in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Color;[7] the color puce is displayed on page 37, Plate 7, Color Sample H4.

Puce (Pourpre color list)

Puce (Pourpre color list)
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#4E1609
SourcePourpre.com
ISCC–NBS descriptorDeep brown

At right is the color called puce in the Pourpre.com color list, a color list widely popular in France . This is the original puce, from which all other tones of puce ultimately derive.[citation needed]

Puce (Pantone)

Puce (Pantone)
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#4F3A3C
SourcePantone TPX[8]
ISCC–NBS descriptorDark grayish reddish brown

The color at right is called puce in the Pantone color list.

The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #19-1518 TPX—Puce.[9]

See also

  • List of colors

References

  1. puce (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=puce  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. St. Clair, Kassia (2017-10-24) (in en). The Secret Lives of Color. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-5247-0494-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=0gUEDgAAQBAJ&q=puce+color&pg=PT98. 
  3. Kelleher, Katy (2017-10-24). "The Sexy-Gross Story of Puce" (in en). https://www.theawl.com/2017/10/the-sexy-gross-story-of-puce/. 
  4. Under The Moonlight (2020-07-14). "Puce Was Once The Height Of 18th Century French Fashion For A Second" (in en). https://underthemoonlight.ca/2020/07/14/puce-was-once-popular-in-16th-century-france/. 
  5. Zola, Émile (1880). Nana. Paris: G. Charpentier. p. 45. https://archive.org/details/nanazolae00zola/page/45. "Vêtue d'une robe sombre de couleur indécise, entre le puce et le caca d'oie." 
  6. Hugo, Victor (1887). Les Misérables. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 67. https://archive.org/details/lesmisrables01unkngoog/page/n79. 
  7. Maerz and Paul (1930). A Dictionary of Color. New York: McGraw-Hill. 
  8. Type the word "Puce" into the indicated window on the Pantone Color Finder and the color appears.
  9. Pantone TPX Pantone Color Finder--Type the word "Puce" into the indicated window on the Pantone Color Finder and the color appears: