Aubergine

Darker than deep purple, and resembling the color of an eggplant, is aubergine (the French and British English word for eggplant). An early use of aubergine as a color name in the U.S.A. was in "Art in America" magazine, in 1913, describing a glaze color of Chinese porcelain. Edwin Atlee Barber used the term describing the same porcelain glaze in 1910 in his book, "Hard Paste Porcelain". Chinese hard paste porcelain vessels of the period of Kangxi (1662-1722) were particularly admired by members of the Arts and Crafts Movement of a century or so ago, who sought to duplicate it in their own work.