Ivory
- HEX
- #FFFFF0
- RGB
- 255 255 240
- HSL
- 60° 100% 97%
- CMYK
- 0 0 6 0
Ivory or Cream?
Almost white, with only a hint of yellow. Cream is yellower.
After elephant tusks.
History
Ivory black, a deep warm black, was made by charring ivory scraps; the paint sold under that name today is made from bone. In 1989 the CITES treaty voted to ban the international commercial ivory trade to protect elephants.
Poetry
The Song of Songs praises a neck like a tower of ivory. The ivory tower as a place of lofty seclusion comes from an 1837 poem by the French critic Sainte-Beuve.
Art
Not all ivory is elephant. The Lewis Chessmen, found on a Scottish island in 1831, were probably carved in Norway around 1150 to 1200 from walrus tusk, a less white, less even ivory. Traces of red paint survive on some pieces: in the 1100s, European chess was usually red against white, not black against white.
Kin
- Black: Charred ivory made ivory black, a painter's warm black
- White: The warm white named after elephant tusk
- Cream: Its yellower neighbor, named after milk
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Bone char' (ivory black)
- CITES, 'Elephants' (1989 Appendix I listing)
- Etymonline, 'ivory tower'
- St Clair, The Secret Lives of Colour (2016)
- Pastoureau, White: The History of a Color (2023)
Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.