Indian red (color)

Indian red is a pigment, a variety of ocher, which gets its color from ferric oxide, produced in India.[2] Other shades of iron oxides include Venetian Red, English Red, and Kobe, all shown below.

Indian Red
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#CD5C5C
HSV       (h, s, v)	(0°, 52%, 75[1]%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(205, 92, 92)
Source	X11
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Moderate red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

Chestnut is a color similar to but separate and distinct from Indian red.

Etymology

The name Indian red derives from the red laterite soil found in India, which is composed of naturally occurring iron oxides. The first recorded use of Indian red as a color term in English was in 1672.[3]

Variations of Indian red

Venetian red

Venetian Red
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#C80815
HSV       (h, s, v)	(0°, 84%, 84%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(200, 8, 21)
Source	Internet
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

At right is displayed the color Venetian red.

Venetian red is a light and warm (somewhat unsaturated) pigment that is a darker shade of scarlet, derived from nearly pure ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) of the hematite type. Modern versions are frequently made with synthetic red iron oxide.

The first recorded use of Venetian red as a color name in English was in 1753.[4]

Deep Indian red

Deep Indian Red
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#B94E48
HSV       (h, s, v)	(10°, 50%, 75%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(185, 78, 72)
Source	Crayola
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Dark reddish orange
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

Deep Indian red is the color originally called Indian red from its formulation in 1903 until 1999, but now called chestnut, in Crayola crayons. This color was also produced in a special limited edition in which it was called Vermont maple syrup.

At the request of educators worried that children (mistakenly; see Etymology) believed the name represented the skin color of Native Americans, Crayola changed the name of their crayon color Indian Red to Chestnut in 1999.[5]

English red

English Red
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#AB4E52
HSV       (h, s, v)	(357°, 54%, 67[6]%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(171, 78, 82)
Source	ISCC-NBS
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Moderate red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

At right is displayed the color English red.

This red is a tone of Indian red, made like Indian red with pigment made from iron oxide.

The first recorded use of English red as a color name in English was in the 1700s (exact year uncertain).[7] In the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot in 1765, alternate names for Indian red included "what one also calls, however improperly, English Red." [8]

Kobe

Kobe
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#882D17
HSV       (h, s, v)	(12°, 83%, 53[9]%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(136, 45, 23)
Source	ISCC-NBS
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Strong reddish brown
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

At right is displayed the color kobe.

The color kobe is a dark tone of Indian red, made like Indian red from iron oxide pigment.

The first recorded use of Kobe as a color name in English was in 1924.[10]

Indian red in culture

Railroads/Railways

• The Talyllyn Railway painted their locomotives Talyllyn and Dolgoch Indian Red in honor of the 150th anniversary of the line in 2015.[11]
  

  Furness Railway Nº20, as restored today

• The Furness Railway in the UK used Indian Red for its locomotive livery.
• The Department of Railways New South Wales, Public Transport Commission and the State Rail Authority painted their diesel locos and passengers cars in indian red.

See also

• Chestnut (color)
• List of colors

References

1. web.forret.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code of color #C05C5C (Indian Red):
2. Church, Arthur Herbert (1915). The Chemistry of Paints and Painting (4th ed.). London: Seeley, Service & Co. pp. 202–203. OCLC 1041775719. OL 7214282M.
3. "Indian, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary". Retrieved 4 July 2020.
4. Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201; Color sample of Venetian red: Page 35 Plate 6 color sample I12
5. Crayon Chronology
6. web.forret.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code of color #AB4E52 (English Red):
7. Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 194; Color sample of English red: Page 31 Plate 4 color sample H12
8. Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Indian Red." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Abigail Wendler Bainbridge. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2015, <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.009>. Trans. of "Rouge d'Inde," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 14. Paris, 1765.
9. web.forret.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code of color #882D17 (Kobe):
10. Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 197; Color sample of Kobe: Page 35 Plate 6 color sample K12
11. "Steam trains secret 150th paint job". BBC News. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2020-06-07.