Query by image content is certainly the main problematic in the field of multimedia databases. In this paper, we investigate the usage of a perceptual colour space during and after a coarse segmentation process in order to offer to users the possibility of querying the obtained regions thanks to a query language and fuzzy descriptions of colour, spatial, and topological properties of these regions. By being understandable to the user, contrary to criteria used in comparative searches, it allows a deterministic, though more or less constrained search. Nevertheless, by maintening a rich set of characteristics, it does not preclude the computation of simpler properties usable in such comparative searches.