Thursday, July 21, 2016

This Is What Happens ...


This is what happens when an heraldic artist has never seen anything more than a very rough description of an heraldic beast when painting a roll of arms.


Yes, this is pretty clearly supposed to be an "elephant."

No, that's not really what an elephant, even an heraldic one, is supposed to look like. I can only think that he was told that "an elephant is a lot like a horse, only much bigger, with a long dependent nose, two large tusks coming out of its mouth, and huge ears covering the sides of its head."

(Arms from the Ortenburger Wappenbuch (1466-1473) Cod icon 308u, on the website of the Bavarian State Library, http://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de/Blatt_bsb00001755,00270.html?prozent=1)

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