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Metal (tincture) of silver in heraldry
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. In engravings and line drawings, regions to be tinctured
argent
are either left blank, or indicated with the abbreviation
ar
.
The name derives from
Latin
argentum
, translated as "
silver
" or "white
metal
". The word
argent
had the same meaning in Old French
blazon
, whence it passed into the English language.
In some historical depictions of
coats of arms
, a kind of silver leaf was applied to those parts of the device that were argent. Over time, the silver content of these depictions has
tarnished
and darkened. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish regions that were intended as "argent" from those that were "
sable
". This leaves a false impression that the
rule of tincture
has been violated in cases where, when applied next to a dark colour, argent now appears to be sable due to
tarnish
.
Argent versus white
[
edit
]
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
argued in his book
The Art of Heraldry
that, though extremely rare, the colour white existed as an independent tincture in heraldry separate from argent. He bases this in part on the "white
labels
" used to differentiate 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.
[1]
Poetic meaning
[
edit
]
The different tinctures are traditionally associated with particular heavenly bodies, precious stones, virtues, and flowers, although these associations have been mostly disregarded by serious heraldists.
[2]
In addition to the metal silver, Argent is associated with:
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Arms of Guillemin family (France)
-
Arms of the municipality of
Degerfors
, Sweden.
-
Arms of Visdelou family (France)
-
Arms of Le Lagadec family (France)
-
Arms of Jegou family (France)
References
[
edit
]
Look up
argent
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.