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.
A perruque, or peruke, is a wig of hair to cover the head. The form found in period armory is intended to resemble a natural head of hair; the elaborate and powdered perukes of the late-17th and 18th Centuries are not used. The perruque is a period charge, found in the canting arms (“hair man”) of Herman or Harmonde, c.1520 [DBA2 354; cf. also Guillim1 174 and Gwynn-Jones 103]. See also beard, tress of hair.
Carlos Blanco el Barbero bears as a badge: Or, in pale a perruque gules and a sinister hand azure.
Moyai-Nidun bears as a badge: Gules, a perruque and on a chief argent a grenade sable.
The penner and inkhorn is considered a single charge: a cylindrical container for pens, connected by cords to an ink bottle. It’s found in the armory borne by the Worshipful Company of Scriveners, 1530 (though not confirmed until 1634) [Bromley & Child 217]. For related charges, see penbox.
The College of Scribes of Caid bears: A penner and inkhorn argent.
Salomea Imhof bears: Purpure, three penners and inkhorns argent.
Samthann ingen Garbáin bears: Argent, three penners and inkhorns azure.
A penbox is a container for calligraphic supplies. In Society heraldry, it’s drawn in a highly abstract manner, as found in Middle Eastern armory of the 14th Century and later [Mayer 45]; it is usually blazoned a “Saracenic” or “Arabic” penbox for that reason. As a charge from outside Europe, the Arabic penbox carries a step from period practice. For related charges, see penner and inkhorn.
Sayf al-Qamar Tarik ibn Abdul bears: Sable, a fess between a scimitar fesswise inverted and an Arabic penbox fesswise argent.
Tahira of Carolingia bears: Sable, on a fess argent an Arabic penbox azure.
A pen is a tool for writing or drawing with ink. The most common form of pen in heraldry is the “quill pen”, sometimes misleadingly (and wrongly) blazoned simply a “quill”; it’s found in the canting arms of Coupens c.1312 [ANA2 514]. The quill pen is the default form of pen for Society use; the illustration is taken from Bossewell, 1572 [III.4v]. But other types of pen are also found in Society armory, most notably the “reed pen” or “calamus”; this is simply a tubular reed with a split point at one end. It’s similar to the pens found in the arms of Hales, c.1520 [Woodcock & Robinson pl.13].
Pens are palewise by default, with points to base. For related charges, see feather. See also quill of yarn.
The Chronicler bears: Per pale sable and argent, two quills conjoined in pile counterchanged, a chief gules.
Elizabeth Bellclerke bears: Azure, in fess three quill pens bendwise sinister argent.
Catharine Hawkwod da Barbiano bears: Or, six quill pens azure.
Thomas Megatherium of Castle Leviathan bears: Per pale purpure and sable, a reed pen palewise Or surmounted by an anvil argent.
A baker’s peel, or baker’s paddle, is a long-handled wooden spatula, used for placing bread into (and taking it out of) ovens. It is therefore often shown with manchets, or breadloaves, on the paddle. The baker’s peel is a period charge, found in the canting arms (Italian pala) of Palazolo, mid-15th C. [Triv 281]. Its default orientation is palewise, paddle to chief [Parker 450]. See also oar, spade.
Giacomo Fornerigo bears: Or, a baker’s peel bendwise sinister sable charged with three loaves of bread Or sustained by an arm embowed issuant from sinister proper vested sable, a chief rayonny gules.
Rowena Longstrider bears: Purpure, a cooking pot between a mascle of four baker’s paddles, heads to chief argent.
Tomas de Courcy bears as a badge: On a baker’s peel vert three plates.
A padlock is a block of metal pierced by a keyhole, with a pivoted or hinged link to secure doors and such. It’s a period charge: a padlock Or was one of the badges of Francis, Viscount Lovel, d.1487 [HB 123]. For related charges, see fetterlock, shackle.
Randwulf Witlac bears: Sable, a padlock and on a chief argent, three wolves’ heads couped sable.
Saerthryth Seolforlocc bears: Per fess engrailed argent and azure, a padlock argent.
Rónán Ó Gobhann bears: Gules, a padlock and a chief argent.
An oven is an enclosed, heated chamber, used to bake or roast food. Ovens were found in many forms in period; the form documented in period heraldry is specified as a “domed oven”, and is found in the arms of Stubenwid, c.1340 [Zurich 267]. The circular air vents are part of the definition of the charge, and are not considered tertiary charges. For related charges, see athanor.
John Doctor Smith bears: Azure, a domed oven argent vented sable.
Sven miðlungr bears: Argent, a domed oven sable vented argent.
A niddy-noddy is a handheld reel for gathering skeins of yarn. Though the term isn’t period, the charge certainly is, found in the arms of von Stratzberg, mid-16th C. [NW 57]. The Society uses the modern term in blazon for clarity’s sake. The niddy-noddy is palewise by default.
Astridr Selr Leifsdóttir bears as a badge: A niddy-noddy Or wound with yarn azure.
A net is an openwork pattern of cords, loosely woven and knotted, and used to catch fish and game. In medieval heraldry, “net” is also a canting term for a fret, or a fretty field. In Society heraldry, the typical net seems to be a fisherman’s net, as in the illustration.
There is also a Society example of a “herring net”, mounted on a long handle; the illustration is based on a woodcut in Olaus Magnus’ History of the Nordic People, 1555. Though both of these nets are period artifacts, we’ve no examples of either as a charge in period armory. See also spiderweb.
The Order of the Golden Seine, of the Barony of Illiton, bears: Azure, a rectangular net Or, in its dexter chief corner a plate.
Kwellend-Njal Kolskeggsson bears as a badge: A net Or.
Ailikn Olafsdottir bears: Vert, a hare rampant maintaining a herring net and a chief wavy argent.
