Melon Yellow

Melon Yellow is named after the flesh color of Xinjiang and Central Asian melon varieties. The orange-yellow flesh of Hami melons and Jiashi melons was the most popular summer refreshment along the Silk Road. After the Eastern Han general Ban Chao opened the route to the Western Regions, he brought melon seeds back to the Central Plains. Dried Tang Dynasty melons unearthed from the Astana tombs in Turpan still have discernible flesh fiber shades approximating RAL 1028.

In Persian miniatures, Melon Yellow was used to depict royal banquet scenes. The Herat school master miniaturist Bihzad used Melon Yellow to depict sliced melons and maidens' saris when painting Safavid court banquets. This vivid, full-bodied orange-yellow subsequently became a fixed color symbol for youth and abundance in Islamic miniature painting.

In the 16th century, melon cultivation reached its peak at the Ottoman Imperial court. Dozens of melon varieties were grown in the imperial gardens of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Court painters illustrated a catalog for each variety, and melons with orange-yellow flesh were labeled 'The Sultan's Choice.' Melon Yellow thus became deeply tied to the pleasure aesthetics of the Ottoman court.

The 19th-century French Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard used Melon Yellow to its fullest. In his later years living in Le Cannet in Southern France, he painted numerous melon still lifes. Blocks of Melon Yellow spread across his canvases as if melting. Art historians consider Bonnard's Melon Yellow the most faithful color translation of the Southern French sunlight.

The modern juice and ice cream industry uses Melon Yellow for product coloring. Melon-flavored ice cream and fruit drinks use natural beta-carotene to mix a vivid orange-yellow close to RAL 1028. The consumer's sense of smell and taste is pre-awakened the instant they see this color, and packaging design converts this synesthetic response into a purchase impulse.