It is not blue, however; it is, in point of fact, violet. Violet you might ask? I know what you are thinking. How can this possible be violet? Well this is yet another object lesson in how earlier pre-industrial revolution centuries had a much broader way of interpreting textile colours. In our day, we are used to relative precision, but we are also spoiled by the easy availability of modern dyes. In other times, this was not the case, so vestment colours could be manifest in a way that was considered "close enough" to the intended colour.
Admittedly, if I were to look at this set and know it was not blue, my own guess would have been that it was intended for use as green (after all, some greens have a bluish palette). But it is not the case.
Some of you may even yet still doubt that this can possibly be a violet set, but there is a reason that I know that it is violet and that is because this is a set comprised also of a broad stole (stola latior) and folded chasuble (planeta plicata) -- penitential vestments that were only ever found in black (which this certainly is not) and violet.
 |
| Planeta plicata |
 |
| The broad stole |
