Oxblood or ox-blood is a dark shade of

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

. It resembles

burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, but has less

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...

and more dark brown hues. The French term sang-de-bœuf, or sang de bœuf, with the same meaning (but also "ox blood") is used in various contexts in English, but especially in

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

, where

sang de boeuf glaze Sang de boeuf glaze, or sang-de-boeuf, is a deep red colour of ceramic glaze, first appearing in Chinese porcelain at the start of the 18th century. The name is French, meaning " ox blood" (or cow blood), and the glaze and the colour sang de boeu ...

in the color is a classic

ceramic glaze Ceramic glaze is an impervious layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fused to a pottery body through firing. Glaze can serve to color, decorate or waterproof an item. Glazing renders earthenware vessels suitable for holding ...

Chinese ceramics Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

. The name is often used in fashion, especially for shoes. The term oxblood can be used to describe a range of colors from red to reddish-purple to nearly black with red, brown and blue undertones.

Origin

The first use of the term ''oxblood'' as a color name in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

dates back to 1695–1705. The name is derived from the color of the blood of an ox. The ox blood was used as a pigment to dye fabric, leather and paint. It is most commonly described as a dark red with purple and brown undertones. The blood would change from a bright red to a darker, oxidized, more brown-red as it aged. The color is used in fashion terms. It was popular and the name was used frequently in the 2012 Fall/Winter fashion season.

In modern fashion

Unlaced Dr Martens Oxblood Made in England 1461 shoes

Oxblood is a relatively common color for

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

shoes. It is sometimes called " cordovan" although this term more properly refers to a particular type of horse leather. During the Fall/Winter fashion seasons of 2012 and 2013, oxblood was one of the commonly used colors. Oxblood

lipstick Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to ...

was popular, as well as oxblood-colored apparel and accessories. In an article on the oxblood trend, ''Lucky Magazine'' suggested that people are now "dismissing words like burgundy from their vocabularies", adding that the word "oxblood" might be more on-trend than the color itself.

London Underground

From 1903, the English architect Leslie Green used an industrial, solid, sang de boeuf glaze on the glazed architectural terra-cotta tiles for the exteriors of the stations of a large part of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

system, which was then divided between a number of commercial companies. His employer, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London was building the

Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London.A "tube" railway is an underground rail ...

, the

Baker Street and Waterloo Railway The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that built a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The company struggled to fund the work, and construction di ...

and the

Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), also known as the Hampstead Tube, was a railway company established in 1891 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. Construction of the CCE&HR was delayed for ...

, which are now respectively sections of the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are n ...

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...

and

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

. The

Leeds Fireclay Company Burmantofts Pottery was the common trading name of a manufacturer of ceramic pipes and construction materials, named after the Burmantofts district of Leeds, England. Company history The business began in 1859 when fire clay was discovered in a ...

made the tiles.

References

{{shades of red Shades of red Color