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Tincture (heraldry)
Encyclopedia
In heraldry
, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon
a coat of arms
. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper (also sometimes termed "natural") is coloured as it would be found in nature. One of the few fundamental rules of heraldry is that metals must not be placed upon other metals and colours must not be placed upon other colours, while furs and proper can be placed upon either or both. This is referred to as the rule of tincture
. Nonstandard colours called stains were introduced in the late Middle Ages, but have largely been shunned as contrary to the heraldic spirit of bold images and bright colours. A peculiar fad of the Renaissance
sought to couple each tincture with an associated planet, gemstone, flower, astrological sign
, etc., but this practice was soon abandoned and is now regarded as wildly divergent from the science of heraldry. The 19th century saw the rise of "landscape heraldry" and extensive use of charges tinctured "proper", especially in augmentations (and more often in German heraldry
than English
), but this practice too has been deprecated as essentially unheraldic.
English heraldry
recognises seven principal tinctures, consisting of two "metals", or light tinctures (gold and silver), and five "colours", or dark tinctures (blue, red, purple, black, and green). On the continent, however, especially in German and Nordic heraldry, purple (together with ermine, discussed below) is not used on the shield, but is reserved for the royal pavilion
, the lining of some royal crowns and the caps of some of the high nobility. Some continental heraldic traditions also recognise white as a colour distinct from silver. While some heraldic authors recommend a particular shade for each colour, there is only one red in heraldry, and only one green, one blue, etc. The exception to this is the late 19th century development of "natural" colours, known as stains, (see Later tinctures below) which have been largely shunned and are seldom found.
Although the English term vert is also from French, the French use the word sinople
to refer to the tincture.
The patterns illustrated are occasionally used to depict arms in a monochromatic context, such as a "hatching
" (sketch) or engraving
.
. He bases this in part on the "white labels" used to difference the arms of members of the British Royal Family. However, it has been argued that these could be regarded as "white labels proper", thus rendering white not a heraldic tincture. In Portuguese heraldry
, white seems to be regarded as a tincture different from argent, as evidenced by the arms of Santiago do Cacém
, in which the white of the fallen Moor's clothing and the knight's horse is distinguished from the argent of the distant castle, and in the arms of the Logistical and Administrative Command of the Portuguese Air Force.
Or) so as not to confuse it with the conjunction or.
Sometimes the word gold is used for Or in blazon, either to prevent repetition of the word Or, or because this substitution was the fashion in a particular period, or, more rarely, because it is the preference of an officer of arms. Regardless, Or is much more frequently used.
Sometimes Or is distinguished from yellow, as in the 1502 crest of the city of Košice: wings per fess of yellow and azure a fleur-de-lys Or.
An unusual case is in the colonial arms of Algiers
, in which the boulet on which the lion rests his paw is stated to be the same "proper" [au naturel] as the lion.
Some consider it bad form to depict too many charges as "proper", especially when those charges create a landscape. This experienced a vogue during the Victorian
period, but came to be deprecated as being excessively difficult to draw from blazon, and somewhat contrary to the spirit of heraldry as favouring bold, clear, and unmistakable designs.
(mulberry-coloured, or reddish purple), sanguine
(blood-red) and tenné
(an orange-tawny colour, though in continental heraldry orange is regarded as different, and South African blazons mention both "orange" and "tenné," though how these are shown is apparently interchangeable). These were sometimes called stainand colours (or "stains"), as some rebatement
s of honour were said to be blazoned of these colours. Almost none of these rebatements are found in fact of heraldic practice, however, and in British heraldry the stains find more than exceptional use only for purposes of livery.
Other colours, particularly those used in Europe, include:
The "ash colour" in the arms of Gwilt of South Wales
("Argent, a lion rampant sable, the head, paws, and half of the tail ash colour") may be the same tincture as cendrée. (Sometimes charges are described as de piedra in Spanish heraldry, which literally means "of stone" and indicates a grey colour.) It is important, however, to distinguish descriptions of a type of animal (such as "a horse of bay colour") followed by proper, from true heraldic tinctures.
These are rare – the seven primary tinctures are the most common ones. Rarer still are other such Continental colours as "Brunâtre," the extremely unusual occurrences of which are almost entirely limited to "details" of charges that might be blazoned as "proper," with exceptions such as the brown lion rampant in the arms of Simón Bolívar
. A field Brunâtre almost never occurs, though brunatre is used more often than might be suspected in South African heraldry; the arms of the Oziel Selele Comprehensive School (Bothaville
) are officially blazoned Brunatre, a torch argent inflamed or between two open rolls of parchment argent, an orle or. It is blazoned "Braun" in German heraldry. In German heraldry there are also the colours "grey", "Eisen" (iron) and "water colour," though there are unique appearances of "grey" in the heraldry of South Africa and the United States. (It is unclear how "water colour" should be depicted.) "Earth colour" appears not only occasionally in German heraldry, but there is at least one appearance of "earth colour" in English blazon, in the arms of the Royal Miners' Company, and in the arms of Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The colour "amaranth" or "columbine" was used "in a coat granted to a Bohemian knight in 1701".
The arms of the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia
have a field of aquamarine, which is emblazoned more as a kind of dark green than a true aquamarine colour.
The fess on the Coat of arms of Colombia
is blazoned as of the colour of platinum
.
In 1997, the colour rose and the metal copper appeared in Canada, the former in the arms of Prime Minister Kim Campbell
. In South African heraldry, the arms of the University of Transkei
provide an example of ochre
and the national arms of red ochre.
In the heraldry of the United States Army
the shades of colours and metals are often parenthetically specified, though this is far from in keeping with normal heraldic practice. The Institute of Heraldry has also introduced the colours buff
(though this is often employed like a metal) and horizon blue, and silver gray has appeared in the heraldry of the Army and Air Force. There seems to be some confusion about the colour crimson as it exists in blazon sometimes as a separate tincture and sometimes as a "definition" of the shade of gules to be employed by the artist. Bronze makes appearances in the arms of the Special Troops Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (there seeming to be a colour rather than a novel metal) and those of Tumaco
, Colombia.
, vair
, and their variants, are regular patterns that represent actual fur
. Any charge
may be tinctured of a fur, though furs occur infrequently in German and Nordic heraldry. In German heraldry
, Kürsch (fur proper) is sometimes used, but this is seldom found elsewhere. Although the name "sable" comes from a kind of fur, the colour sable is not considered a heraldic fur.
Ermine represents the winter coat of the stoat
, which is white with a black tail; many skins would be sewn together to make a luxurious garment, producing a pattern of small black spots on a white field. The conventional representation of the tails (commonly called ermine spots) is part of the tincture itself, rather than a pattern of charges, though the ermine spot is also used as a single charge (often as a mark of cadency
). The ermine spot has had a wide variety of shapes over the centuries; its most usual representation has three tufts at the end (bottom), converges to a point at the root (top), and is attached by three studs.
Ermines is the reverse of ermine – a field sable semé of ermine-spots argent. It is sometimes called counter-ermine (cf. French
contre-hermine and German
gegen-hermelin). Erminois is ermine with a field Or instead of argent, and pean is the reverse of erminois (i.e. Or spots on a field sable). Erminites is supposed to be the "same as ermine, except that the two lateral hairs of each spot are red;" its existence in actual heraldic practice is doubted, however, and Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
describes it as a "silly [invention] of former heraldic writers, not of former heralds."
Vair originated from alternately patterned pieces of fur from a species of squirrel with blue-grey back and white belly.
The term vair was brought into Middle English
from Old French
, from Latin
varius "variegated". Basic vair consists of rows of small bell-like shapes of alternating blue and white, nowadays usually drawn with straight edges. The bells on the next row down are placed with their bottoms facing the bottoms of the bells on the row above, and so forth down. The old depictions of vair are similar in appearance to bars of azure and argent divided by alternating straight and wavy lines. (An excellent example is the lining of the cloak of Geoffrey Plantagenet
as represented on his tomb.) In the past this would simply be blazoned "vair", but nowadays this is usually (though not always) blazoned vair ancient. Variations include several different arrangements of the pieces into other patterns. Vairy of [metal] and [colour] is used when a vair-like pattern is represented of any tinctures other than azure and argent. Very rarely, the individual pieces of vair are used as charges.
Potent is like vair, except using a T shape instead of a bell shape. The word potent means "crutch"; it is thought to derive from badly-drawn vair. It is subject to all the subvarieties of vair, thus counter-potent and so on.
The main duty of a heraldic device is to be recognized, and the dark colours or light metals are supposed to be too difficult to distinguish if they are placed on top of other dark or light colours, particularly in poor light. Though this is the practical genesis of the rule, the rule is technical and appearance is not used in determining whether arms conform to the rule. Another reason sometimes given to justify this rule is that it was difficult to paint with enamel (colour) over enamel, or with metal over metal.
This rule is so closely followed that arms that violate it are called armes fausses (false arms) or armes à enquérir (arms of enquiry); any violation is presumed to be intentional, to the point that one is supposed to enquire how it came to pass. One of the most famous armes à enquérir (often said to be the only example) was the shield of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
, which had gold crosses on silver. This use of metal on metal, that is to say white and gold together, is seen on the arms of the King of Jerusalem, the flag and arms of the Vatican, and the bishop's mitre in the arms of Andorra. It indicates the exceptional holy and special status of the Coat of Arms. (In the case of Jerusalem, this may also emphasize the Arab techniques gained in the Levant
). An example of "colour on colour" is the arms of Albania
, with its sable two-headed eagle on a gules field.
The rule of tincture has had an influence reaching far beyond heraldry. It has been applied to the design of flags, so that the flag of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
was modified to conform to the rule.
Likewise, instead of Vert, a fess Or between two lions passant Or, one would say, Vert, a fess between two lions passant Or (sometimes ...all Or): a tincture applies to all charges named since the last tincture mentioned. Given this, the Institute of Heraldry practice of often using the phrase "of the like" in a similar context is out of
harmony with the usual heraldic practice and completely unnecessary.
line, variation
, or ordinary
, it may be blazoned counterchanged. However, some patterns, such as chequy, do not permit charges over them to be treated this way.
This means that the charge is divided the same way as the field it is placed upon, with the colours reversed.
A shield which is green on the upper half and silver on the lower, charged at the centre with a lion whose upper half is silver and lower half green, would be blazoned: Per fess vert and argent, a lion counterchanged.
In Scots heraldry, a charge may be blazoned as counterchanged of different colours from the field; e.g., Per fess gules and azure, a sun in splendour counterchanged Or and of the first. In English heraldry, this would be described as Per fess gules and azure, a sun in splendour per fess Or and of the first.
A situation similar to counterchanging can be seen in the arms of Brian North Lee: Sable three billets in bend Argent overlapping on a chief Vert three escallops Argent. Here, the parts of the billets that overlap are shown as being sable, the tincture of the field.
Similarly to counterchanging, if multiple charges appear in two opposing divisions of the field, they may be blazoned countercoloured, meaning that the charges in a division of the field bear the colour of the opposing division of the field. An example may be seen in the Fenwick
arms, blazoned originally as silver [sic, rather than the expected argent] a chief gules with six martlets countercoloured, in which the chief gules bears three martlets argent and the base argent correspondingly bears three martlets gules.
by gemstones, or by references to the seven classical "planets" (including Sun and Moon), as summarized in the tables below:
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper (also sometimes termed "natural") is coloured as it would be found in nature. One of the few fundamental rules of heraldry is that metals must not be placed upon other metals and colours must not be placed upon other colours, while furs and proper can be placed upon either or both. This is referred to as the rule of tincture
Rule of tincture
The first rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour . This means that Or and argent may not be placed on each other; nor may any of the colours be placed on another colour...
. Nonstandard colours called stains were introduced in the late Middle Ages, but have largely been shunned as contrary to the heraldic spirit of bold images and bright colours. A peculiar fad of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
sought to couple each tincture with an associated planet, gemstone, flower, astrological sign
Astrological sign
Astrological signs represent twelve equal segments or divisions of the zodiac. According to astrology, celestial phenomena reflect or govern human activity on the principle of "as above, so below", so that the twelve signs are held to represent twelve basic personality types or characteristic modes...
, etc., but this practice was soon abandoned and is now regarded as wildly divergent from the science of heraldry. The 19th century saw the rise of "landscape heraldry" and extensive use of charges tinctured "proper", especially in augmentations (and more often in German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
than English
English heraldry
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the College of Arms. They are subject to a system of cadency to distinguish...
), but this practice too has been deprecated as essentially unheraldic.
Basic tinctures
 |
English heraldry
English heraldry
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the College of Arms. They are subject to a system of cadency to distinguish...
recognises seven principal tinctures, consisting of two "metals", or light tinctures (gold and silver), and five "colours", or dark tinctures (blue, red, purple, black, and green). On the continent, however, especially in German and Nordic heraldry, purple (together with ermine, discussed below) is not used on the shield, but is reserved for the royal pavilion
Mantling
In heraldry, mantling or lambrequin is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield. In paper heraldry it is a depiction of the protective cloth covering worn by knights from their helmets to stave off the elements, and, secondarily, to decrease the effects of...
, the lining of some royal crowns and the caps of some of the high nobility. Some continental heraldic traditions also recognise white as a colour distinct from silver. While some heraldic authors recommend a particular shade for each colour, there is only one red in heraldry, and only one green, one blue, etc. The exception to this is the late 19th century development of "natural" colours, known as stains, (see Later tinctures below) which have been largely shunned and are seldom found.
| English blazon | |
|---|---|
| Metals | |
| Gold/Yellow | Or Or (heraldry) In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots... |
| Silver/White | Argent Argent In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it... |
| Colours | |
| Blue | Azure Azure In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation.... |
| Red | Gules Gules In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation.... |
| Purple | Purpure Purpure In heraldry, purpure is a tincture, more or less the equivalent of the colour "purple", and is one of the five main or most usually used colours... |
| Black | Sable Sable (heraldry) In heraldry, sable is the tincture black, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures, called "colours". In engravings and line drawings, it is sometimes depicted as a region of crossed horizontal and vertical lines or else marked with sa. as an abbreviation.The name derives from the black fur of... |
| Green | Vert Vert The colour green is commonly found in modern flags and coat of arms, and to a lesser extent also in the classical heraldry of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.... |
Tincture nomenclature
The names of the tinctures mainly come to us from Norman French:- Azure is from the FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
azur from ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
lazward (لازورد) from PersianPersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
lâzward ( lâzhward or lâdjward) meaning lapis lazuliLapis lazuliLapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....
. - Sable is named after the fur of the sableSableThe sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
marten. - Gules may be from the French gueules, which is thought to refer to animals' red throats.
Although the English term vert is also from French, the French use the word sinople
Sinople
Sinople was a term for a kind of red earth used as a pigment in antiquity.It can refer to:*sinople, also sinoper, a term for "red", and later "green" in heraldry, see Sinople...
to refer to the tincture.
The patterns illustrated are occasionally used to depict arms in a monochromatic context, such as a "hatching
Hatching system
The system of heraldry has two main methods to designate the tinctures of arms in uncolored illustrations: hatching and tricking. Hatching, i.e. patterns of lines and dots, is the most common method to designate colours on uncoloured surfaces, like engravings, seals and coins.The present day...
" (sketch) or engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
.
Argent and white
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies has argued that in extremely rare circumstances, white can be a heraldic colour different from argentArgent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
. He bases this in part on the "white labels" used to difference the arms of members of the British Royal Family. However, it has been argued that these could be regarded as "white labels proper", thus rendering white not a heraldic tincture. In Portuguese heraldry
Portuguese heraldry
Portuguese heraldry has been in use at least since the 12th century.White seems to be regarded as a different tincture from argent in Portuguese heraldry, as evidenced by the arms of municipal de Santiago do Cacém in Portugal, in which the white of the fallen Moor's clothing and the knight's horse...
, white seems to be regarded as a tincture different from argent, as evidenced by the arms of Santiago do Cacém
Santiago do Cacém
Santiago do Cacém is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 1060.0 km² and a total population of 30,305 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 11 parishes, and is located in Setúbal District....
, in which the white of the fallen Moor's clothing and the knight's horse is distinguished from the argent of the distant castle, and in the arms of the Logistical and Administrative Command of the Portuguese Air Force.
Or
Or is usually spelt with a capital letter (e.g., Gules, a fessFess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
Or) so as not to confuse it with the conjunction or.
Sometimes the word gold is used for Or in blazon, either to prevent repetition of the word Or, or because this substitution was the fashion in a particular period, or, more rarely, because it is the preference of an officer of arms. Regardless, Or is much more frequently used.
Sometimes Or is distinguished from yellow, as in the 1502 crest of the city of Košice: wings per fess of yellow and azure a fleur-de-lys Or.
Proper
Objects may also be depicted in their natural colours, described in blazons as 'proper' (though in some cases what are considered the "natural colours" are determined by convention rather than observation in the wild; for instance, a "popinjay" proper is green, not any of the huge range of colours that parrots are coloured with in nature; and dragons, though never found in nature, are when proper also green). Sometimes when "proper" alone would not give adequate information as to the appearance a colour must also then be given (e.g., a white horse proper). Proper is considered to be a tincture distinct from whatever heraldic tincture the depiction of the item or being in question would most closely approximate.An unusual case is in the colonial arms of Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, in which the boulet on which the lion rests his paw is stated to be the same "proper" [au naturel] as the lion.
Some consider it bad form to depict too many charges as "proper", especially when those charges create a landscape. This experienced a vogue during the Victorian
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
period, but came to be deprecated as being excessively difficult to draw from blazon, and somewhat contrary to the spirit of heraldry as favouring bold, clear, and unmistakable designs.
Later tinctures
Later heraldry introduced some more colours. Only three are of more than exceptional use in British heraldry: murreyMurrey
In heraldry, murrey is a "stain", an occasionally used tincture.According to dictionaries, murrey is the colour of mulberries, somewhere between gules and purpure , almost maroon; but examples registered in Canada and Scotland show it as a reddish brown.The Flag of the Second Spanish Republic was...
(mulberry-coloured, or reddish purple), sanguine
Sanguine (heraldry)
Sanguine is a tincture in heraldry, otherwise one of the "staynard colours" . In the past it was sometimes taken to be equivalent to murrey, but they are now definitely considered two distinct tinctures. It is a brownish red, the colour of arterial blood....
(blood-red) and tenné
Tenné
In heraldry, tenné or tawny or tenny is a "stain", a rarely used tincture, an orangish brown colour, at least in Continental European use....
(an orange-tawny colour, though in continental heraldry orange is regarded as different, and South African blazons mention both "orange" and "tenné," though how these are shown is apparently interchangeable). These were sometimes called stainand colours (or "stains"), as some rebatement
Abatement (heraldry)
An abatement, in heraldry, is a modification of the shield or coat of arms used to denote marks or devices that are less-than honorable Augmentation. It is thought that they can be imposed by authority for misconduct...
s of honour were said to be blazoned of these colours. Almost none of these rebatements are found in fact of heraldic practice, however, and in British heraldry the stains find more than exceptional use only for purposes of livery.
Other colours, particularly those used in Europe, include:
- carnationCarnation (heraldry)In heraldry, carnation is a tincture, the colour of European human skin . It is not used at all often in the Anglophone heraldries but quite frequent on the continent, in France in particular, derived from widespread use in German heraldry.In its rare appearances in the Anglophone heraldries, it...
(the colour of European human skin – most common in France), - bleu celesteBleu celesteBleu celeste is a rarely occurring tincture in heraldry . This tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste...
(also ciel or celeste – sky-blue), - cendréeCendréeIn heraldry, cendrée is a tincture, the grey of ashes , iron, and stone walls.It is rare in Anglophone heraldry, but common in Germany and to a lesser extent in France...
(dark grey)
The "ash colour" in the arms of Gwilt of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
("Argent, a lion rampant sable, the head, paws, and half of the tail ash colour") may be the same tincture as cendrée. (Sometimes charges are described as de piedra in Spanish heraldry, which literally means "of stone" and indicates a grey colour.) It is important, however, to distinguish descriptions of a type of animal (such as "a horse of bay colour") followed by proper, from true heraldic tinctures.
These are rare – the seven primary tinctures are the most common ones. Rarer still are other such Continental colours as "Brunâtre," the extremely unusual occurrences of which are almost entirely limited to "details" of charges that might be blazoned as "proper," with exceptions such as the brown lion rampant in the arms of Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. A field Brunâtre almost never occurs, though brunatre is used more often than might be suspected in South African heraldry; the arms of the Oziel Selele Comprehensive School (Bothaville
Bothaville
Bothaville is a maize farming town situated near the Vaal River in the Lejweleputswa DM of the Free State province, South Africa. It is situated 6km east of the Vaal, on the bank of its Vals River tributary...
) are officially blazoned Brunatre, a torch argent inflamed or between two open rolls of parchment argent, an orle or. It is blazoned "Braun" in German heraldry. In German heraldry there are also the colours "grey", "Eisen" (iron) and "water colour," though there are unique appearances of "grey" in the heraldry of South Africa and the United States. (It is unclear how "water colour" should be depicted.) "Earth colour" appears not only occasionally in German heraldry, but there is at least one appearance of "earth colour" in English blazon, in the arms of the Royal Miners' Company, and in the arms of Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The colour "amaranth" or "columbine" was used "in a coat granted to a Bohemian knight in 1701".
The arms of the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
have a field of aquamarine, which is emblazoned more as a kind of dark green than a true aquamarine colour.
The fess on the Coat of arms of Colombia
Coat of arms of Colombia
The coat of arms of Colombia contains a shield with numerous symbols. Perched on top of the shield is an Andean Condor holding an olive crown and the condor symbolizing freedom. The national motto, Libertad y Orden , is on a scroll in between the bird and the shield in black font over golden...
is blazoned as of the colour of platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
.
In 1997, the colour rose and the metal copper appeared in Canada, the former in the arms of Prime Minister Kim Campbell
Kim Campbell
Avril Phædra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, university professor, diplomat, and writer. She served as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993, to November 4, 1993...
. In South African heraldry, the arms of the University of Transkei
University of Transkei
University of Transkei was situated in the former Transkei region of South Africa...
provide an example of ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
and the national arms of red ochre.
In the heraldry of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
the shades of colours and metals are often parenthetically specified, though this is far from in keeping with normal heraldic practice. The Institute of Heraldry has also introduced the colours buff
Buff (colour)
Buff is a pale yellow-brown colour that got its name from the colour of buff leather.Displayed on the right is the colour buff.EtymologyAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a colour was first used in the London Gazette of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat...
(though this is often employed like a metal) and horizon blue, and silver gray has appeared in the heraldry of the Army and Air Force. There seems to be some confusion about the colour crimson as it exists in blazon sometimes as a separate tincture and sometimes as a "definition" of the shade of gules to be employed by the artist. Bronze makes appearances in the arms of the Special Troops Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (there seeming to be a colour rather than a novel metal) and those of Tumaco
Tumaco
Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern of Colombia, near to border with Ecuador, and enjoys of hot tropical climate...
, Colombia.
Furs
Furs, such as ermineErmine (heraldry)
Ermine is a heraldic fur representing the winter coat of the stoat . Many skins would be sewn together to make a luxurious garment, producing a pattern of small black spots on a white field...
, vair
Vair
Vair is the heraldic representation of patches of squirrel fur in an alternating pattern of blue and white. As a tincture, vair is considered a fur and is therefore exempted from the Rule of tincture . Variations of vair are laid out in different patterns, each with their own name...
, and their variants, are regular patterns that represent actual fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
. Any charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
may be tinctured of a fur, though furs occur infrequently in German and Nordic heraldry. In German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
, Kürsch (fur proper) is sometimes used, but this is seldom found elsewhere. Although the name "sable" comes from a kind of fur, the colour sable is not considered a heraldic fur.
Ermine and its variants
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Ermine represents the winter coat of the stoat
Ermine
Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...
, which is white with a black tail; many skins would be sewn together to make a luxurious garment, producing a pattern of small black spots on a white field. The conventional representation of the tails (commonly called ermine spots) is part of the tincture itself, rather than a pattern of charges, though the ermine spot is also used as a single charge (often as a mark of cadency
Cadency
In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way of distinguishing similar coats of arms belonging to members of the same family. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which a given design may be owned by only one person at once...
). The ermine spot has had a wide variety of shapes over the centuries; its most usual representation has three tufts at the end (bottom), converges to a point at the root (top), and is attached by three studs.
Ermines is the reverse of ermine – a field sable semé of ermine-spots argent. It is sometimes called counter-ermine (cf. French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
contre-hermine and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
gegen-hermelin). Erminois is ermine with a field Or instead of argent, and pean is the reverse of erminois (i.e. Or spots on a field sable). Erminites is supposed to be the "same as ermine, except that the two lateral hairs of each spot are red;" its existence in actual heraldic practice is doubted, however, and Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies was a British author on heraldry. By profession, he was a barrister but he also worked as a journalist and novelist.Born in Bristol, he was the second son of T...
describes it as a "silly [invention] of former heraldic writers, not of former heralds."
Vair and its variants
The term vair was brought into Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
from Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
, from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
varius "variegated". Basic vair consists of rows of small bell-like shapes of alternating blue and white, nowadays usually drawn with straight edges. The bells on the next row down are placed with their bottoms facing the bottoms of the bells on the row above, and so forth down. The old depictions of vair are similar in appearance to bars of azure and argent divided by alternating straight and wavy lines. (An excellent example is the lining of the cloak of Geoffrey Plantagenet
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou
Geoffrey V , called the Handsome and Plantagenet, was the Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine by inheritance from 1129 and then Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144...
as represented on his tomb.) In the past this would simply be blazoned "vair", but nowadays this is usually (though not always) blazoned vair ancient. Variations include several different arrangements of the pieces into other patterns. Vairy of [metal] and [colour] is used when a vair-like pattern is represented of any tinctures other than azure and argent. Very rarely, the individual pieces of vair are used as charges.
Potent is like vair, except using a T shape instead of a bell shape. The word potent means "crutch"; it is thought to derive from badly-drawn vair. It is subject to all the subvarieties of vair, thus counter-potent and so on.
Other furs
German heraldry recognizes a fur called Kürsch; this is said to be drawn brown and hairy, and there are occasional references in English to "vair bellies", which may be the same thing. Plumeté is a feather-like pattern of exceptionally rare appearance which is placed in the category of furs. It can be used essentially (though not technically) as a type of patterned field. "Plumetty d'aigle proper" is distinguished in at least one case, though the tincture in this case is a form of proper. Pappeloné is a pattern supposed to resemble the scales on the wings of a butterfly.The rule of tincture
The first rule of heraldry is the rule of tincture: metal must never be placed upon metal, nor colour upon colour, for the sake of contrast.The main duty of a heraldic device is to be recognized, and the dark colours or light metals are supposed to be too difficult to distinguish if they are placed on top of other dark or light colours, particularly in poor light. Though this is the practical genesis of the rule, the rule is technical and appearance is not used in determining whether arms conform to the rule. Another reason sometimes given to justify this rule is that it was difficult to paint with enamel (colour) over enamel, or with metal over metal.
This rule is so closely followed that arms that violate it are called armes fausses (false arms) or armes à enquérir (arms of enquiry); any violation is presumed to be intentional, to the point that one is supposed to enquire how it came to pass. One of the most famous armes à enquérir (often said to be the only example) was the shield of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
, which had gold crosses on silver. This use of metal on metal, that is to say white and gold together, is seen on the arms of the King of Jerusalem, the flag and arms of the Vatican, and the bishop's mitre in the arms of Andorra. It indicates the exceptional holy and special status of the Coat of Arms. (In the case of Jerusalem, this may also emphasize the Arab techniques gained in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
). An example of "colour on colour" is the arms of Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, with its sable two-headed eagle on a gules field.
The rule of tincture has had an influence reaching far beyond heraldry. It has been applied to the design of flags, so that the flag of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
The Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was created in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach. It was raised to a Grand duchy in 1815 by resolution of the Vienna Congress. In 1877, it officially changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Saxony , but this name was...
was modified to conform to the rule.
Blazon
It was formerly customary to avoid repeating the name of any tincture. For example, Gules, on a fess Or a rose gules seeded Or would be expressed as Gules, on a fess Or a rose of the field, seeded of the second. This practice has recently been abandoned by the English College of Arms because in a complicated blazon it can cause confusion.Likewise, instead of Vert, a fess Or between two lions passant Or, one would say, Vert, a fess between two lions passant Or (sometimes ...all Or): a tincture applies to all charges named since the last tincture mentioned. Given this, the Institute of Heraldry practice of often using the phrase "of the like" in a similar context is out of
harmony with the usual heraldic practice and completely unnecessary.
Counterchanging and countercolouring
When a charge is placed across a divisionDivision of the field
In heraldry, the field of a shield can be divided into more than one area of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name...
line, variation
Variation of the field
In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field.- Patterning with ordinaries and subordinaries :...
, or ordinary
Ordinary (heraldry)
In heraldry, an ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use...
, it may be blazoned counterchanged. However, some patterns, such as chequy, do not permit charges over them to be treated this way.
This means that the charge is divided the same way as the field it is placed upon, with the colours reversed.
A shield which is green on the upper half and silver on the lower, charged at the centre with a lion whose upper half is silver and lower half green, would be blazoned: Per fess vert and argent, a lion counterchanged.
In Scots heraldry, a charge may be blazoned as counterchanged of different colours from the field; e.g., Per fess gules and azure, a sun in splendour counterchanged Or and of the first. In English heraldry, this would be described as Per fess gules and azure, a sun in splendour per fess Or and of the first.
A situation similar to counterchanging can be seen in the arms of Brian North Lee: Sable three billets in bend Argent overlapping on a chief Vert three escallops Argent. Here, the parts of the billets that overlap are shown as being sable, the tincture of the field.
Similarly to counterchanging, if multiple charges appear in two opposing divisions of the field, they may be blazoned countercoloured, meaning that the charges in a division of the field bear the colour of the opposing division of the field. An example may be seen in the Fenwick
Fenwick
- Places :In Canada:*Fenwick, Nova Scotia*Fenwick, OntarioIn the United Kingdom:* Fenwick, East Ayrshire* Fenwick, Northumberland* Fenwick, South YorkshireIn the United States:* Fenwick, Connecticut* Fenwick, Michigan* Fenwick, West Virginia...
arms, blazoned originally as silver [sic, rather than the expected argent] a chief gules with six martlets countercoloured, in which the chief gules bears three martlets argent and the base argent correspondingly bears three martlets gules.
Gemstone / planet blazoning
During the late medieval period and Renaissance, there was an occasional practice of blazoning tincturesTricking (heraldry)
The system of heraldry has two main methods to designate the tinctures of arms: hatching and tricking, i. e. designation of tinctures by means of abbreviations or signs.- Origin :...
by gemstones, or by references to the seven classical "planets" (including Sun and Moon), as summarized in the tables below:
EWLINE
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EWLINE
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See also
- Tricking (heraldry)Tricking (heraldry)The system of heraldry has two main methods to designate the tinctures of arms: hatching and tricking, i. e. designation of tinctures by means of abbreviations or signs.- Origin :...
- Hatching systemHatching systemThe system of heraldry has two main methods to designate the tinctures of arms in uncolored illustrations: hatching and tricking. Hatching, i.e. patterns of lines and dots, is the most common method to designate colours on uncoloured surfaces, like engravings, seals and coins.The present day...