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Miniver
Miniver, an unspotted white fur edged with grey, derives originally from the winter coat of the red squirrel. In England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ..., the term became established as a general term for white or almost white fur. Miniver, in the original sense, differs from ermine (stoat) fur in that it does not include the distinctive black tails of the stoat but is formed of distinctive grey edged panels cut from the complete fur and framing the white belly. From a red squirrel, which has a greyish-white winter coat with a white underside, miniver gros, or vair, is the whole fur, including the grey, and miniver pure retains only the white part. The heraldic fur, vair, translates the grey into blue, and alternates back and belly. R. Delort, Le commerce des f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heraldic Fur
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement. The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on a shield, helmet and crest, together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters, badges, heraldic banners and mottoes. Although the use of various devices to signify individuals and groups goes back to antiquity, both the form and use of such devices varied widely, as the concept of regular, hereditary designs, constituting the distinguishing feature of heraldry, did not develop until the High Middle Ages. It is often claimed that the use of helmets with face guards during this period made it difficult to recognize one's commanders in the field when large armies gathered togethe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vair
Vair (; from Latin ''varius'' "variegated"), originating as a processed form of squirrel fur, gave its name to a set of different patterns used in heraldry. Heraldic vair represents a kind of fur common in the Middle Ages, made from pieces of the greyish-blue backs of squirrels sewn together with pieces of the animals' white underbellies. Vair is the second-most common fur in heraldry, after ermine. Origins The word ''vair'', with its variant forms ''veir'' and ''vairé'', was brought into Middle English from Old French, from Latin ' "variegated", and has been alternatively termed ' (Latin, meaning "variegated work").Veale, Elspeth M.: ''The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages'', p. 224. The squirrel in question is a variety of the Eurasian red squirrel, ''Sciurus vulgaris''. In the coldest parts of Northern and Central Europe, especially the Baltic region, the winter coat of this squirrel is blue-grey on the back and white on the belly, and was much used for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Eyck - Arnolfini Portrait
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or people in tiny quantities. Mini MPVs, compact MPVs, and MPVs are all small vans usually used for transporting people in small quantities. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages. Word origin and usage Van meaning a type of vehicle arose as a contraction of the word caravan. The earliest records of a van as a vehicle in English are in the mid-19th century, meaning a covered wagon for transporting goods; the earliest reported r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Squirrel
The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been over 40 described subspecies of the red squirrel, but the taxonomic status of some of these is uncertain. A study published in 1971 recognises 16 subspecies and has served as a basis for subsequent taxonomic work. Although the validity of some subspecies is labelled with uncertainty because of the large variation in red squirrels even within a single region, others are relatively distinctive and one of these, ''S. v. meridionalis'' of South Italy, was elevated to species status as the Calabrian black squirrel in 2017. At present, there are 23 recognized subspecies of the red squirrel. Genetic studies indicate that another, ''S. v. hoffmanni'' of Sierra Espuña in southeast Spain (below included in ''S. v. alpinus''), deserves recognition a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It shares Anglo-Scottish border, a land border with Scotland to the north and England–Wales border, another land border with Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, the largest city and the Capital city, capital. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It takes its name from the Angles (tribe), Angles, a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe who settled du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ermine (heraldry)
Ermine () in heraldry is a fur, a type of tincture, consisting of a white background with a pattern of black shapes representing the winter coat of the stoat (a species of weasel with white fur and a black-tipped tail). The linings of medieval coronation cloaks and some other garments, usually reserved for use by high-ranking peers and royalty, were made by sewing many ermine furs together to produce a luxurious white fur with patterns of hanging black-tipped tails. Due largely to the association of the ermine fur with the linings of coronation cloaks, crowns and peerage caps, the heraldic tincture of ermine was usually reserved to similar applications in heraldry (i.e., the linings of crowns and chapeaux and of the royal canopy). In heraldry it has become especially associated with the Duchy of Brittany and Breton heraldry. Ermine spots The ''ermine spot'', the conventional heraldic representation of the tail, has had a wide variety of shapes over the centuries; its most u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
