Storied Colors

The Color Index An ongoing index, est. 2026

One color a day, told as it ought to be told: with its provenance, its chemistry, and the people who paid for it in poison.

This Week’s Specimens Curator’s notes · 8th to 14th June

From the desk of the curator

Han
Blue

Synthetic · Cool · Mid

Han purple's quieter sibling, a stable blue made in the same imperial workshops and lost to history until modern pigment science identified it in the 1980s.

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Plate 084

No. 084 c. 475 BCE

Han
Purple

Synthetic · Cool · Mid

A synthetic barium-copper purple used on the Terracotta Army's armour, whose recipe vanished with the Han dynasty and stayed lost for two millennia.

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Plate 092

No. 092 1st century BCE

Imperial
Purple

Mollusc · Cool · Saturated

Tyrian purple as wielded by Roman emperors and Byzantine basileis, who criminalised its use by anyone not born in the Porphyry chamber.

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Recent Acquisitions Six newest of 252 entries

The Collection at a Glance Browse all 252 →

096 005 175 184 224 111 154 100 147 153 214 085 040 237 151 044 067 226 131 116 023 058 252 094 016 167 124 234 227 188 187 179 202 038 205 242 233 123 122

+213 more

An occasional letter from the catalogue: new entries, contested attributions, the kind of thing that doesn't fit on a color page. Subscribe to be notified when the first issue ships.

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One color a day, told as it ought to be told: with its provenance, its chemistry, and the people who paid for it in poison.

From the desk of the curator

Han Blue

Han Purple

Imperial Purple

An occasional letter from the catalogue: new entries, contested attributions, the kind of thing that doesn't fit on a color page. Subscribe to be notified when the first issue ships.

Han
Blue

Han
Purple

Imperial
Purple