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Fond Rose (Rose Pompadour) - Madame de Pompadour single-handedly made pink the mainstream color of the Rococo era, symbolizing innocence and desire. The future first porcelain factory in France, Sevres, sponsored by her, custom-made a special pink called Fond Rose (Cherished Rose) for Madame de Pompadour. Craftsmen created this blush-like pink by adding fine gold particle colloidal suspension to "Cassius Purple."
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Pompeii Red - Derived from the wall paintings of the ancient city of Pompeii, it was a reddish-brown color widely used by the nobility to decorate their mansions during that period, symbolizing Roman architecture. To produce this pigment, cinnabar and hematite are ground into an extremely fine powder, with finer particles yielding better color. A special type of microcrystalline particle, believed to come from a certain type of grain according to recent research, is sieved into it to stabilize the color and bring it closer to red ocher. Artisans would seal the wall paintings with wax and then polish them, which is why these paintings still appear as vivid as they did in ancient times even 2000 years later.
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Tiffany Blue - Inspired by the color of a robin's egg but slightly lighter, it falls between blue and green. In 1845, the renowned jewelry brand Tiffany first used this color on the cover of its product catalog, and it later became the brand's exclusive color due to its strong brand identity. Interestingly, the Pantone standard color card number for this color is also the year the brand was established: 1837.
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Prussian Blue - Prussian blue contributed to Picasso's "Blue Period" and Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," but it originated from an unexpected "red" accident. In 1704, a German dye manufacturer intended to develop a new red color, but one of the materials produced an astonishing chemical reaction when mixed with blood, resulting in a bright blue color. In 1842, British astronomer Sir John Herschel discovered the unique light sensitivity of Prussian blue, making it the perfect option for making copies of drawings. Therefore, subsequent drafts were also known as "blueprints."
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Schönbrunn Yellow - Also known as Habsburg Yellow or Baroque Yellow, it comes from the color of the exterior walls of Schönbrunn Palace in Austria, also known as the "Palace of Beauty." In the 1770s, Emperor Joseph II of the Habsburg dynasty ordered that this color be used for all buildings in Austria and Hungary, especially the exterior walls of royal castles. Hence, in the Baroque period in Hungary and other European countries, Schönbrunn Yellow became a symbol of courtly aesthetics and nobility.
