Field (heraldry)

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In heraldry, the background of the shield is called the field. The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures (colours or metals) or furs.

In extremely rare cases, the field is not a tincture, but may be a landscape. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, in his Art of Heraldry, states that while there are many coats in British heraldry in which the charges make up a landscape, there is only one, the arms of Lopes, where the field itself is so described: "In a landscape field, a fountain, therefrom issuing a palm-tree all proper." However, Fox-Davies is incorrect, as in 1751 Robert Dinwiddie in Scotland was granted a coat of the following blazon: Party per Fesse two landskips the first (the uppermost) holding a wild Indian at full draught his bow bent, marking at a stag standing at full Gaze Regardant proper The Emblem of the Earth, And in base, the Emblem of water with a sloop under sail, within sight of and making towards a distant land Representing America.[1] There are some examples of more specificially described landscapes, such as in the arms of Höerskool Brandwag.[2] Landscape fields are regarded by many heralds as unheraldic and deprecated, as they cannot be consistently drawn from blazon.

The arms of Count Cesare Fani[3] are along the same lines, as the field is blazoned as "sky proper."

The arms of the Inveraray and District Community Council in Scotland have as a field In waves of the sea.

For further detail on the field, see variations of the field.

The Blazon Series
Charge • Divisions • Field • Lines • Ordinary • Tincture Bend • Canton • Chevron • Chief • Cross • Fess • Flaunch • Pall • Pale • Saltire