Coat of arms

This article explains the design of the edges, for the division with straight lines see Herold's picture # Dividing lines / dividing forms .

The coat of arms cut is a coat of arms division carried out by straight or curved boundary lines according to heraldic rules. When describing the coat of arms or blazon , a typical cut designation is used depending on the cut. Many cut figures divide the shield by simple contours. But in modern times more and more complicated cuts have been devised by commercial artists and heraldists .

The heraldic cut

There is the cloud cut, pewter cut, notch cut, clover leaf cut, sawtooth cut and many other division lines typical of the coat of arms. The wealth of variants increases not only through the double execution of the pattern, but also through the direction of division (position in the coat of arms). An example is the pewter cut. Here the cut does not run horizontally or vertically, but diagonally from top right to bottom left in the coat of arms. There is also the option from top left to bottom right. The layout of the pattern (axis of the cut) follows the upper edge of the shield.

Head-up heraldic cuts are also common. These are emblazoned as overthrown . The variety of the heraldic cuts allows the creation of unmistakable coats of arms quickly . The heraldic cuts, which have been in use for centuries, mutated into double cuts.

List of heraldic cuts

Surname	Blason	Characteristic	variants	example
Branch cut	branched	sloping battlements
Bow cut	bent in, bent out	tips rounded in or rounded off	several arches see also scale / flap cut
Cymbal cut		Monkshood cut or pewter cut , which is more pointed
Thorn cut or scar cut (old)
Double cloud section		like notched hearts		Shield head divided by a double cloud cut
Double tin cut
Monkshood cut		like monkshood ( Feh )
Flame cut
Counter battlements
Göpelschnitt
Half-back cut
Heart cut
Yoke cut
Notch cut	notched	consisting of small curves
Pewter cut		with notched battlements
Shamrock arch		Element of architecture on the gates and windows of castles or towers
Shamrock cut		with shamrock
Cross cut		with cross
Cross pewter cut		if crosses on the battlements are
Curve section
Flap cut	lobed	also cuticle
Lily cut
Linden leaf cut		Shape of the snail cut
Moon cut (circle cut)		Division / cleavage line interrupted and curved to the right or left by a crescent moon or semicircle
Palisade cut	Divided into a palisade	with palisades ; the representation in the heraldry as short pointed posts
Pile cut
Plug (s) cut				divided obliquely to the left with five plugs
Sawtooth cut
Clapboard cut		like pewter cut, but coarser (and other thematic reference)
Chess pawn cut
Snail cut
Pewter cut		Pewter cut, oblique
Dovetail cut	swallowed	with dovetail
Cuticle	flaked out (lobed)	also: flap cut , consisting of small rounded corners (see also curved cut )
Gusset cut		Pointed cut with 60 degrees
Lace cut	if there are few peaks the number is given, e.g. B. with four overturned tips	Point angle 75 degrees
Step cut	if the higher part is on the right side, it means divided with the right step, otherwise with the left	when the line is broken alternately to the left and right at right angles
Stepped gable cut				tinned rafters
Swoop cut	split in a surge cut	inclined waves rolling over the apex	Divisions and splits in different directions of the waves
Fir cut ( pine top / top cut)				and pewter cut
Fir rice cut				stylized
Peat moss cut
Wave cut				oblique left
Wave cut
Wolf teeth			tips that are rounded or curved and come out of the side margin
Cloud cut		like Wolkenfeh
Tooth cut		Pointed cut at 45 degrees		coarse fine
Zigzag cut		little pips
Tin cut (flat tin cut)		with battlements		Division division

Gradient forms

• 

  Wavy cut divided obliquely to the left, the silver field at the top into a slanting silver aspen leaf, the green field below in a green bunch of grapes

• 

  Shamrock leaking

• 

  Maple seeds leaking

See also

• Herald image
• Rake (heraldry)
• Fog cut

Web links

Commons : Herald's pictures after Blason  - with, among other things, the respective cuts

• Bernhard Peter: Introduction to heraldry: coat of arms design with sleek divisions - to extravagant cuts

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maximilian Gritzner : Large and general book of arms . BoD - Books on Demand, Bremen 2012, ISBN 978-3-95507-686-3 , p. 274. (Origin Nuremberg 1889 published by Bauer and Raspe)