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Heraldic Dictionary: 1. Tinctures

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HERALDRY I: Tinctures

I'll start this series with the TINCTURES (that is, colours) used in heraldry.

Tinctures are divided into three kinds - COLOURS, METALS and FURS.

In general practice, there are relatively few colours, and only eight are usually seen. Even then, some of these are rare. The eight colours are:

SABLE (black),
AZURE (blue),
VERT (green),
GULES (red),
PURPURE (purple),
TENNÉ (orange),
MURREY(maroon),
SANGUINE (blood red).

Note that there are no separate terms for light and dark blue.

The two metals are:

ARGENT (silver/white)
OR(gold/yellow).

The furs, of which there are several forms are very rarely sound in vexillology. Suffice to say that the commonest, silver fur with black "tails" is called ERMINE.

ERMINE

This can be seen in the canton of the flag of Breizh/Brittany and as the background to the bows on the personal standard of H.M. the Queen Mother.

In addition to this, objects may be coloured naturally. The bear on the flag of California, and the tree on the flag of Lebanon are examples of this. These are said to be PROPER (that is, in their proper colours).

PROPER

By tradition - a tradition not always kept in the designing of flags - some tinctures may not be used together.

A colour may not be placed against another colour, and a metal may not be placed against another metal.

Thus a blue star could be placed on a gold or ermine background, but not on a red one. A gold star could be placed on a green or ermine background, but not on silver. An ermine star (a rare sight) could be placed against colour or metal. The main exception to this rule is when arms are constructed by QUARTERING - placing several sets of arms together side-by-side (e.g., Maryland), or by INESCUTCHEON - the placing of a small set of arms in the centre of the main design (e.g., Slovakia). Here, each section is regarded as entire, and the rules of tincture do not apply at the borders between the different shields. Thus in the British Royal Standard, the red background behind the lions and the blue behind the harp can meet without problem. Similarly, the white and yellow of the flag of Maryland can exist alongside each other, since they are in different quarters of the flag.