Decyphering Crests invoving Heads

Discussion:

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Rock Vacirca

2020-06-06 19:26:43 UTC

Hi guys,

I have been looking at the blazon for the Aske family of Aughton in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

In Glover's Visitation of 1584 he described it thus:

Or, 3 bars azure, the centre one charged with an annulet of the 1st

For the crest, Glover gives:

A man's head proper, crined and bearded, wreathed about the temples or and azure.

I am not so familiar with the terminology of crests, so could some kind soul answer the following:

Would the head in this case be full faced, or facing left?
What tincture would the hair be?
Would the skin be a natural colour?
What image comes to your mind concerning 'wreathed about the temples'? I can find no online description or examples of this.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rock

Scott55

2020-06-07 14:58:26 UTC

Permalink

Post by Rock Vacirca
Hi guys,
I have been looking at the blazon for the Aske family of Aughton in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Or, 3 bars azure, the centre one charged with an annulet of the 1st
A man's head proper, crined and bearded, wreathed about the temples or and azure.
Would the head in this case be full faced, or facing left?
What tincture would the hair be?
Would the skin be a natural colour?
What image comes to your mind concerning 'wreathed about the temples'? I can find no online description or examples of this.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Rock

Full faced would be described as "cabossed".

"Wreathed about the temples or and az." means the head is wearing a wreath and the tinctures are as mentioned.

"A man's head proper" means a European Caucasian head of natural color, i.e. Flesh(caucasian) toned and brown hair. If you want to know about other skin tones, some of the terms are this; A Moor's head proper (dark brown), and A Turk's head proper (Mediterranean toned). There are others I'm sure, but I don't know them all.

Hope this helps.

Rock Vacirca

2020-06-08 08:04:20 UTC

Permalink

Post by Scott55

Full faced would be described as "cabossed".
"Wreathed about the temples or and az." means the head is wearing a wreath and the tinctures are as mentioned.
"A man's head proper" means a European Caucasian head of natural color, i.e. Flesh(caucasian) toned and brown hair. If you want to know about other skin tones, some of the terms are this; A Moor's head proper (dark brown), and A Turk's head proper (Mediterranean toned). There are others I'm sure, but I don't know them all.
Hope this helps.

That does help a lot, thanks Scott.

I have now found three head placements: (1)full-faced (cabossed), (2)looking to the left in full profile, and (3)looking to the left at a 45 deg angle.

Examples of these are at http://heraldicart.org/man/

(1)Savage's Head Affronty
(2)Man's Head Maintaining a Crown
(3)Man's Head and Bust Hooded and Caped

Do you know the heraldic terms for the head positions in examples (2) and (3)?

In a full achievement of arms, they typically depict a helm above the shield, often with some other charge/symbol above it, as in this example:

https://imgur.com/r/heraldry/I9XS1

However, if a crest depicts a man's head, would that replace the helm in a full achievement, or be placed above the helm?

Many thanks again

Rock

Scott55

2020-06-08 21:22:17 UTC

Permalink

Post by Rock Vacirca

Post by Scott55

Full faced would be described as "cabossed".
"Wreathed about the temples or and az." means the head is wearing a wreath and the tinctures are as mentioned.
"A man's head proper" means a European Caucasian head of natural color, i.e. Flesh(caucasian) toned and brown hair. If you want to know about other skin tones, some of the terms are this; A Moor's head proper (dark brown), and A Turk's head proper (Mediterranean toned). There are others I'm sure, but I don't know them all.
Hope this helps.

That does help a lot, thanks Scott.
I have now found three head placements: (1)full-faced (cabossed), (2)looking to the left in full profile, and (3)looking to the left at a 45 deg angle.
Examples of these are at http://heraldicart.org/man/
(1)Savage's Head Affronty
(2)Man's Head Maintaining a Crown
(3)Man's Head and Bust Hooded and Caped
Do you know the heraldic terms for the head positions in examples (2) and (3)?
https://imgur.com/r/heraldry/I9XS1
However, if a crest depicts a man's head, would that replace the helm in a full achievement, or be placed above the helm?
Many thanks again
Rock

It would be placed above the helmet.

Peter Howarth

2020-06-12 07:14:03 UTC

Permalink

Post by Rock Vacirca

Post by Scott55

Full faced would be described as "cabossed".
"Wreathed about the temples or and az." means the head is wearing a wreath and the tinctures are as mentioned.
"A man's head proper" means a European Caucasian head of natural color, i.e. Flesh(caucasian) toned and brown hair. If you want to know about other skin tones, some of the terms are this; A Moor's head proper (dark brown), and A Turk's head proper (Mediterranean toned). There are others I'm sure, but I don't know them all.
Hope this helps.

That does help a lot, thanks Scott.
I have now found three head placements: (1)full-faced (cabossed), (2)looking to the left in full profile, and (3)looking to the left at a 45 deg angle.
Examples of these are at http://heraldicart.org/man/
(1)Savage's Head Affronty
(2)Man's Head Maintaining a Crown
(3)Man's Head and Bust Hooded and Caped
Do you know the heraldic terms for the head positions in examples (2) and (3)?
https://imgur.com/r/heraldry/I9XS1
However, if a crest depicts a man's head, would that replace the helm in a full achievement, or be placed above the helm?
Many thanks again
Rock

The position of the head ought really to follow the direction of the helm, since a knight on horseback would have the crest on top of his helm facing forwards. So where the helm is painted facing sideways, the head should face to the side too, and where the helm faces the front, so should the head. At one time there were strict rules about which direction the different helms for monarchs, peers, knights, esquires and so on should face, but because that could produce problems with painting the crest to face in the same direction, I seem to remember that the rules for the helms were relaxed. However, in the past, there have been many examples of artists not thinking about it properly and painting helms and crests facing every which way.

'Wreathed about the temples', without further description, means a ribbon, usually white, that is tied around the head at forehead level and knotted at the back, with the ends hanging loosely.

'Caboshed, Cabossed' is normally only used of a head affronté or affronty (facing forwards) where it is "cut off so as to show no part of the neck". (Boutell's Heraldry ed. J.P. Brooke-Little, rev. 1978, p 311.) Human heads are normally shown with the neck still attached. Another blazon for a head caboshed is to call it 'a face' as in the arms of de la Pole, 'azure, a fess between three lions’ faces or'.

Peter Howarth

Rock Vacirca

2020-06-14 09:24:45 UTC

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Post by Peter Howarth

Post by Rock Vacirca

Post by Scott55

Full faced would be described as "cabossed".
"Wreathed about the temples or and az." means the head is wearing a wreath and the tinctures are as mentioned.
"A man's head proper" means a European Caucasian head of natural color, i.e. Flesh(caucasian) toned and brown hair. If you want to know about other skin tones, some of the terms are this; A Moor's head proper (dark brown), and A Turk's head proper (Mediterranean toned). There are others I'm sure, but I don't know them all.
Hope this helps.

That does help a lot, thanks Scott.
I have now found three head placements: (1)full-faced (cabossed), (2)looking to the left in full profile, and (3)looking to the left at a 45 deg angle.
Examples of these are at http://heraldicart.org/man/
(1)Savage's Head Affronty
(2)Man's Head Maintaining a Crown
(3)Man's Head and Bust Hooded and Caped
Do you know the heraldic terms for the head positions in examples (2) and (3)?
https://imgur.com/r/heraldry/I9XS1
However, if a crest depicts a man's head, would that replace the helm in a full achievement, or be placed above the helm?
Many thanks again
Rock

The position of the head ought really to follow the direction of the helm, since a knight on horseback would have the crest on top of his helm facing forwards. So where the helm is painted facing sideways, the head should face to the side too, and where the helm faces the front, so should the head. At one time there were strict rules about which direction the different helms for monarchs, peers, knights, esquires and so on should face, but because that could produce problems with painting the crest to face in the same direction, I seem to remember that the rules for the helms were relaxed. However, in the past, there have been many examples of artists not thinking about it properly and painting helms and crests facing every which way.
'Wreathed about the temples', without further description, means a ribbon, usually white, that is tied around the head at forehead level and knotted at the back, with the ends hanging loosely.
'Caboshed, Cabossed' is normally only used of a head affronté or affronty (facing forwards) where it is "cut off so as to show no part of the neck". (Boutell's Heraldry ed. J.P. Brooke-Little, rev. 1978, p 311.) Human heads are normally shown with the neck still attached. Another blazon for a head caboshed is to call it 'a face' as in the arms of de la Pole, 'azure, a fess between three lions’ faces or'.
Peter Howarth

Thanks Peter

Rock (Wibs)