Quote Originally Posted by Pauly View Post
As you’ve noted dark blue is associated with shadows in Western art. It’s not unusual for colors associated with a particular thing change in different cultures.
Some examples I have come across in Japan.
The Sun: Western = yellow; Japan = red.
Good luck: Western = green (luck of the Irish); Japan = red.
It isn't just shadow, its a highlight on black. Batman's cape and cowl were never supposed to be blue, but due to comic book printing they only effective way to show shape and motion on something that is supposed to be black is to highlight with blue. Unfortunately this make it look like a blue object with deep shadows. The above picture of Ghost Rider is better as the highlight is a very deep navy blue, and its obvious he's wearing a black biker jacket so we immediately read it as a highlight rather than the base colour.

Anyway, yes purple. Rich guys love the stuff in the pre-modern world. I'm assuming this is the reason for the purple stripe on senators togas in Rome.