Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Shade?

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Chris Green
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Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Shade?

Postby Chris Green » 14 Sep 2012, 15:59

Newcomers to heraldry often ask what are the correct Pantone colours for the heraldic tinctures. The answer they receive usually is that there are no correct colours. It is up to each heraldic artist to interpret the blazon using the palette at his disposal and his artistic taste. After all, when knights were bold heraldic artists didn't have access to scientifically created palettes.

This is OK as far as it goes, but does leave the new artist wondering if his or her colour choices will meet with the approval of those who have been heraldry adepts since the Black (PMS Black C) Prince was but a lad. For them I offer the recommendations of the Swedish State Herald (from the website of the Swedish State Archives):

(PMS = Pantone Matching System; Ec = Eurocolor.)

Gold: PMS 871 or yellow: PMS 109 C, PMS116 C
Ec: 100% yellow, 10% magenta (Ec X100)

Silver: PMS 877 or white

Red: PMS 186 C
Ec: 100% yellow, 100% magenta (Ec XX00)

Blue: PMS 300 C
Ec: 50% magenta, 100% cyan (Ec 05X0)

Black: PMS Black C
Ec: 100% black (Ec 000X)

Green: PMS 347 C
Ec: 100% yellow, 100% cyan (Ec X0X0)

Purple: PMS 220 C
Ec: 70% yellow, 100% magenta, 20% cyan (Ec 7X20)
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JMcMillan
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby JMcMillan » 14 Sep 2012, 16:54

New artists need to be told that any disapproval they meet with is merely a matter of taste, not encouraged to think that there are right or even recommended shades. The only guidance I would suggest is that whatever shade is chosen it must be unmistakably the tincture intended, e.g., the shade of blue must clearly by azure, not purpure or vert.
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Chas Charles-Dunne
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Chas Charles-Dunne » 14 Sep 2012, 18:27

JMcMillan wrote:New artists need to be told that any disapproval they meet with is merely a matter of taste, not encouraged to think that there are right or even recommended shades. The only guidance I would suggest is that whatever shade is chosen it must be unmistakably the tincture intended, e.g., the shade of blue must clearly by azure, not purpure or vert.


Well, yes. That is all very well, as far as it goes.

But as Chris has just shown us, it doesn't go in Sweden.
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Chris Green
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Chris Green » 14 Sep 2012, 19:49

I emphasise that the Swedish State Herald merely recommends the shades quoted. There is no element of compulsion. The colour rules for the national flag are however fixed:
http://www.riksarkivet.se/default.aspx? ... refid=1260
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steven harris
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby steven harris » 15 Sep 2012, 01:56

I did have a specific shade of green in mind when I assumed my arms. They are blazoned as Vert, and I would well-recognize any reasonable shade of green as my arms, but in my accompanying design rationale, I specified the shade that I desired.
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Iain Boyd
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Iain Boyd » 15 Sep 2012, 12:11

The Swedish State Herald's recommendations seem rather odd. How can one express the make up of a colour in percentages when the given percentages add up, in most cases, to more than 100%?

Also, the right shade of one colour would depend on the combination of other tinctures in the arms - although, this would not be a problem for the Swedes who, I understand, disapprove of arms of more than two tinctures.

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Iain Boyd

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Torsten Laneryd
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Torsten Laneryd » 15 Sep 2012, 13:29

You cannot add the percentages of the different colours to one sum, because they only relate to the sum of grades within the colour of itself, as I understand it.
I do not agree that Swedes disapprove of more than two colours on a shield although I know that some see it as an ideal. If you look at newly registered coats you will find about half the number of them having more than two colours.
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Torsten (new here)

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Torsten Laneryd
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Torsten Laneryd » 15 Sep 2012, 17:44

To make my statement of colors clearer:

The color intensity of each color in the CMYK model is often given as a percentage.

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Torsten

Ryan Shuflin
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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Ryan Shuflin » 18 Sep 2012, 22:59

not counting stains or new metals, The only real issue I have seen is use of blue-green such as in this emblazonment of the O' Conor Don's armsImage Well that and sometimes black comes off as blueish.

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Re: Heraldic Tinctures: How Do I Know I've Got The Right Sha

Postby Bruce E Weller » 08 Jun 2013, 01:11

In pursuit of my curiosity regarding the pigments which would (likely) have been available to early Heraldic painters, I came across the following:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-42/tethering-the-cowtreatment-and-display-of-the-sackville-pedigreea-large-16th-century-heraldic-parchment-manuscript/

Interesting in its own right but what really jumped out at me, having completed a first read through of Boutell, was the -paraphrased?- blazon of the arms of the "Hoo Family – normally described as ‘Quartered silver, white and black’ is totally black – both silver and the lead white have been blackened." The deterioration in colour is unsurprising and there seems no reason why, given a supply of silver foil or powder, the artist should not have used it, but I have, so far, encountered no reference to white as a tincture except in the context of argent.

Is this merely the shallowness of my reading so far or a fault of the V&A page?

As an aside, is there any record of the pigments historically used by heraldic painters? If so and to satisfy simple curiosity could I be pointed to this data please?


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