Consider... plum

It is not exactly purple, or grape, or eggplant. Plum ranges from a reddish purple to a bluish purple, hovering just a tad deeper than mauve.  

I find it a soothing, contemplative color. It happens to be my daughter's favorite color, so I have seen it in every possible combination over the years! 

Here is the essence of plum:

Photo by Timothy Kolk

As a surprise for my daughter when she returned from her first college semester, I used this photo as the color inspiration for her bedroom feature wall. After I painted it, I found it lacking-- something. You know when you just can't put your finger on it? I eventually did a simple glaze on top of the paint, which added the depth that it needed.

Photo by Dana Gallagher

Photo by Vincent Leroux

Photo by Nicolas Tosi

 The plum pattern is precious on this tea set.

Photo by Jean-Marie Del Moral

This is the Athenais pattern by Lelievre.

 credit

Photo by Alexandre Bailhache

House Beautiful

This painting contains a great representation of the colors to pair with plum:

House Beautiful