Puce
Color
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Puce is a brownish purple color. The term comes from the French couleur puce, literally meaning "flea color".[2]
Puce became popular in the late 18th century in France. It appeared in clothing at the court of Louis XVI. The color was said to be a favourite color of Marie Antoinette; however, there are no portraits of her wearing it.[3][4][5]
Puce was also a popular fashion color in 19th-century Paris. In his novel Nana, Émile Zola describes a woman "dressed in a dark gown of an equivocal color, somewhere between puce and goose shit."[6] 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."[7]
In traditional Japanese iron work, bronze and copper are given a puce hue when coated in a solution of antimony trichloride dissolved in hydrochloric acid.[8]
Variations of puce
Puce (ISCC-NBS)
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)
The color box to the right shows the color called puce in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Color;[10] the color puce is displayed on page 37, Plate 7, Color Sample H4.
Puce (Pourpre color list)
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)
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.[14]