Pitcher (Period)

Ewer (Period)

A pitcher is a vessel for dispensing liquids, with a handle and pouring spout.  It’s found as early as 1300, in the arms of Monbouchier [ANA2 519].

A pitcher is typically drawn as earthenware.  If the pitcher is ornate metal, it may also be termed a “ewer” or a “flagon”; if, in addition, it has a hinged lid, it may also be termed a “laverpot”, as in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Founders, 1590 [Bromley & Child 98].  All of these details are considered artistic license, and no difference is granted for them.

In all its forms, the pitcher’s spout is to dexter by default.  For related charges, see amphora (jug).  See also lamp, pot, tankard.

Morgan Cain bears:  Per pale argent and azure, a pitcher gules.

Khadija bin Umar bears:  Argent, a ewer sable.

Wolfram Gottfried von Norden bears:  Per bend embowed counter-embowed sable and gules, a lymphad under sail and a laverpot argent.

Tankard (Period)

A tankard is a drinking vessel, roughly cylindrical in shape, with a handle.  It may also be called a “stein” or a “mug”.  It is considered baser than a cup, more suited for ale than for wine.  The tankard appears to be a period charge, seen in the arms of Juncker, early 16^th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 392d:612].

The tankard is frequently shown with a flat lid pivoted on the rim, which can be flipped open with the thumb; this form may be blazoned a “covered tankard”.  While covered tankards are found as period artifacts (e.g., as used on the Mary Rose, c.1545 [Rule 201]), we have no examples of their use in period armory.

Jack (Accepted)

A similar charge in the Society, the “jack”, is noted for being made of leather, rather than metal or stoneware.  Its shape is more conical due to its material, but the jack is an artistic variant only; it carries no heraldic difference from the tankard.

All forms of tankard have their handles to sinister by Society default.  For related charges, see pitcher.

Daniel de Tankard bears:  Gules, a tankard of beer Or headed argent.

Morgan Conner bears:  Per pale sable and Or, two tankards, handles in the flanks, counterchanged.

Tadhg MacAodháin uí Chonchobhair bears as a badge:  On a jack reversed sable a harp between three compass stars one and two Or.

 

Fleshpot, or posnet (Period)

Cauldron (Period)

A pot is a round vessel, usually of metal, intended to hold food.  In medieval armory, the default form of pot is two-handled and three-legged; it is more fully called a “fleshpot” or (in the Randall Holme roll, c.1460) a “posnet”.  This form is found as early as c.1370, in the arms of von Spanheim [Gelre 44].

Another common form of pot was the “cauldron”:  more spherical in shape, with a bail handle, which may be called its defining trait.  The cauldron is hung over the fire by its handle to cook food; it’s sometimes called a “cooking pot” for that reason.  The cauldron is a period charge, found as early as c.1340 in the arms of Diessenhofen [Zurich 153].  In Society armory, it is sometimes drawn with a fire beneath it, or hanging from a tripod:  the arms of Larrea, mid-16^th C., show a cauldron so suspended [Armeria 358].

Spouted pot (Period)

Three-footed pot (Accepted)

There is also the “spouted pot”, called a pot à verser in French, used for storing and pouring liquid.  It’s found in the canting arms (German Weinkanne) of Schilling von Cannstatt, c.1450 [Scheibler 131; also Siebmacher 112].  The default form is with a single spout, facing dexter; two-spouted pots are also found, in the arms of von Stedenberg or Stettenberger, c.1450 [Ingeram 158, 269; also Siebmacher 104].  (The same French term, pot à verser, is also used for a slightly different pouring vessel, made of earthenware rather than metal.  This variant, blazoned in German as a Weinkrug, is found in the arms of von Prackbach, 1605 [Siebmacher 93].)

Pipkin (Accepted)

Kettle (Accepted)

Of the various pots unique to Society armory, we find the “three-legged pot”, like the cauldron but three-footed and without a handle; the “pipkin”, a ceramic cooking vessel with three feet and a long handle, dating to the 15^th Century; and the “kettle”, a metal cookery pot, not spherical like the cauldron, but wider than it is deep, with a lifting handle on both sides.  No difference is granted the various types of cookery pots.

There is also the “clay pot”, not metal but pottery:  a flat-bottomed, wide-mouthed crock (much like a modern flower-pot).

Clay pot (Accepted)

For related charges, see amphora, caldera gringolada, frying pan, ink bottle (ink pot), pitcher, vase (urn).  See also cat (in its curiosity).

Aubrey Ericsdatter bears:  Sable, three cauldrons Or.

Agnes Berengarii de Gerona bears:  Vert, five cauldrons in saltire Or.

Brekke Franksdottir bears:  Sable, a cooking pot hanging from a tripod above a base in flame argent.

Roberto Valason bears:  Argent, a peacock in its pride azure gorged of a pearled coronet argent between two barrulets between two spouted pots reversed vert.

William Taylor the Pure bears:  Per pale purpure and vert, a bear’s leg palewise issuant from base Or, maintaining a clay pot argent.

Claire le Potter bears:  Per bend sinister gules and azure, a kettle argent and a bordure Or.

Dametta of Arundel bears:  Per pale purpure and sable, a gryphon segreant maintaining a chalice, on a chief argent three posnets per pale purpure and sable.

Parlane of Glenord bears:  Pean, on a three-legged pot argent two dolphins haurient respectant sable.

Mons von Goarshausen bears as a badge:  Issuant from a pipkin sable a flame gules.

Lamp, lit (Period)

A lamp is a source of light, consisting of a container of oil with an emerging wick.  The earliest form, dating from at least Roman times, was simply a shallow bowl bearing a wick; the most usual medieval form had a conical base, which could be held in the hand or mounted on a fixture.  This is the default heraldic form of lamp, found in period armory in the arms of Wetewang, c.1410 [TJ 1555; see also Bedingfeld 90].

Arabian lamp, lit (Accepted)

However, the most commonly found lamp in Society armory is the “Arabian lamp”, with a handle at one end and the wick in a spout at the other; it’s also been blazoned a “Greek lamp”, though the shape is unchanged.  It’s frequently drawn as the “Aladdin’s lamp” of modern imagery; we’ve no period examples of lamps in that form, neither as a charge nor as an artifact.  However, a basic boat-shaped form of lamp was used in period, as terra cotta artifacts:  the illustration is based on an 11^th C. terra cotta lamp found in Sicily.  Based on that example, the Arabian lamp is still permitted for Society use as of this writing.  The Arabian lamp has its handle to sinister by default.

Hanging oil lamp, lit (Accepted)

Society armory also has the “hanging oil lamp”, with a shallow flat bowl of oil fastened to a vertical handle:  the handle can be hung from a hook over a drawing table.  Like the Arabian lamp, it isn’t found in period armory; however, the hanging oil lamp is a period artifact, as seen in the Opera of Bartoloneo Scappi, 1570, on which the illustration is based [Peter Thornton, The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400-1600, plate 347; cf. also plates 23, 294].  Unlike the Arabian lamp, the hanging oil lamp doesn’t have a default orientation; it is left as an unblazoned detail.  (There’s also one instance in Society armory blazoned simply an “oil lamp”, with no handles; it’s the exception.)

Any form of lamp, if blazoned “flammant” or “enflamed”, is shown with the wick lit.  “Lit”, of course, works as well.  The lamps in the illustrations are all lit.

For related charges, see candle, lantern, torch.  See also pitcher.

The Royal University of Ithra bears:  Gules, on a sun Or eclipsed gules, an Arabian lamp flammant Or.

The Order of the Golden Beacon, of the Barony of Ynys Fawr, bears:  Per bend sinister azure and Or, a lamp argent enflamed Or.

Tiffanie du Claire bears:  Purpure, a [square] oil lamp enflamed between three stars of David one and two Or.

Arthur Lemner of Wesley bears:  Azure, in pale a drawing compass and a two-spouted oil lamp argent, enflamed Or.

Brigid Duncan bears:  Per bend vert and gules, a bend between a hanging oil lamp argent lit Or and a boar sejant Or.

Cup (Period)

A cup is a drinking vessel, consisting of a bowl atop a stem and base.  It may also be termed a “chalice” or “goblet”, especially if ornamented or jewelled; such details are considered artistic license.  The cup is an ancient charge, found in the arms of de Argentine c.1244 [Asp2 216].

Covered cup (British) (Period)

Covered cup (Continental) (Period)

In Society armory, the cup is usually shown with open mouth; this matches examples from period Italian heraldry, such as the arms of de Bonfilliis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 64].  In most other period armory, the cup is normally covered:  with a domed lid in English armory, with stiffened cloth in Iberian and German armory.  Such covers seem to have counted for little if any heraldic difference; they are nonetheless blazoned in Society armory.  The mouth of the cup is to chief by default.

Beaker (Period)

Prunted beaker (Period)

Related to the cup is the “beaker”, a basically cylindrical shape (slightly tapering) without stem or base.  It too is a period charge, found in the canting arms (Italian bicchiere) of di Bizeriis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 65].  A slightly modified form was found in the canting arms of Escher vom Glas, 1605 [Siebmacher 199]; this form shows a beaker “prunted” in the typical German mode.

Mazer (Accepted)

Other drinking vessels found in Society armory include the “mazer”, a festive drinking bowl traditionally made from maple wood.  It is usually shown footed and decorated.

For related charges, see bowl, pitcher, saltcellar, tankard.  See also cupping-glass, mortar and pestle.

The Baron of Rising Waters bears:  Gyronny arrondi gules and argent, a goblet Or within a laurel wreath vert.

Snorri Styrr Bolli bears:  Gules, a chalice argent.

Armand de Mortain bears:  Per pale azure and sable, three cups Or.

Kolfinna Thorgrimsdottir bears:  Argent, a covered cup and a gore purpure.

Elen Greenhand bears:  Or, a mazer sable grasped by a pair of hands fesswise vert, within an orle of acorns proper.

Brangwain nic Stiubhard bears as a badge:  On a beaker azure a dolphin hauriant Or.