Slate grey, silver ribbon, one cream robe for warmth — a palette quarried rather than mixed.
Why slate. The volume’s slate-grey cloth matches the plaque’s stone, so book and carving read as one object in two states: the life, and its monument. The silver ribbon between them is the desk’s only shine, kept deliberately cool — moonlight, not candlelight — so the warm lamplight on the sitter owns the frame’s warmth alone.
Wardrobe quarries the same seam: slate satin, silver-grey silk, cream when the frame needs air. Black disappears into this desk’s shadows; bright colours chip its stone mood like paint on a monument.
Edges and lace. At this light level, a fine lace edge is what separates the sitter from the dark behind her. Brief for lace deliberately on this desk; a plain hem at slate-on-slate contrast can vanish entirely.
The gold count here is zero and stays zero. Silver is this desk’s metal; mixing metals would split the light story and cheapen the carving.