Puce

This article is about the colour. For the school PUCE, see Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador.

Puce is a brownish purple colour. The term comes from the French couleur puce, literally meaning "flea colour".^[2]

Puce
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#CC8899
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(204, 136, 153)
HSV (h, s, v)	(345°, 33%, 80%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(64, 43, 356°)
Source	99colors.net[1]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Dark pink
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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 favourite colour of Marie Antoinette, though there are no portraits of her wearing it.^[3][4][5]

Puce was also a popular fashion colour in 19th-century Paris. In his novel Nana, Émile Zola describes a woman "dressed in a dark gown of an equivocal colour, somewhere between puce and goose shit."^[6] In Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Mademoiselle Baptistine wears "a gown of puce-coloured silk, of the fashion of 1806, which she had purchased at that date in Paris, and which had lasted ever since."^[7]

Variations of puce

Puce (ISCC-NBS)

Puce (ISCC-NBS)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#722F37
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(114, 47, 55)
HSV (h, s, v)	(353°, 59%, 45%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(29, 45, 7°)
Source	ISCC-NBS[8]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Dark red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#A95C68
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(169, 92, 104)
HSV (h, s, v)	(351°, 46%, 66%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(48, 51, 4°)
Source	Maerz and Paul
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Moderate red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color box to the right shows the color called puce in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Color;^[9] the color puce is displayed on page 37, Plate 7, Color Sample H4.

Puce (Pourpre color list)

Puce (Pourpre color list)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#4E1609
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(78, 22, 9)
HSV (h, s, v)	(11°, 88%, 31%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(17, 38, 18°)
Source	Pourpre.com[10]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Deep brown
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#4F3A3C
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(79, 58, 60)
HSV (h, s, v)	(354°, 27%, 31%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(27, 12, 6°)
Source	Pantone TPX[11][12]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Dark grayish reddish brown
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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.^[13]

See also

• List of colors