The diminutives of the
ordinaries are frequently employed to vary the field. Any of these patterns may be
counterchanged by the addition of a division line; for example,
barry argent and azure, counterchanged per fess or
checquy Or and gules, counterchanged per chevron.
Barry, paly, bendy, pily, chevronny When the field is patterned with an even number of horizontal (fesswise) stripes, this is described as
barry e.g. of six or eight, usually of a colour and metal specified, e.g.
barry of six argent and gules (this implies that the chiefmost piece is argent). With ten or more pieces, the field is described as
barruly. A field with narrow
piles throughout, issuing from either the dexter or sinister side of the shield, is
barry pily. When the field is patterned with an even number of vertical stripes (pallets), the field is described as
paly. When the field is patterned with a series of diagonal stripes (bendlets), running from top-left to bottom-right, the field is described as
bendy. In the opposite fashion (top-right to bottom-left) it is
bendy sinister (of
skarpes, the diminutive in
England of the bend sinister); of chevronels,
chevronny. An unusual example of bendy is one in which a metal alternates with two colours. In modern practice the number of pieces is nearly always even. A shield of thirteen vertical stripes, alternating argent and gules, would not be
paly of thirteen, argent and gules, but
argent, six pallets gules. One unusual design is described in part as
bendy of three though, as each third is again divided, the effect is of a six-part division. If no number of pieces is specified, it may be left up to the heraldic artist, but is still represented with an even number. An instance of a
fess... paly Sable, Argent, Bleu celeste and Or occurs in the arms of the 158th Quartermaster Battalion of the
United States Army, although this is atypical terminology and it could be argued that the fess should be blazoned as
per pale, in dexter per pale sable and argent, and in sinister per pale bleu celeste and or. In the
modern arms of the
Count of Schwarzburg, the quarters are divided by a cross bendy of three tinctures. When the shield is divided by lines both palewise and bendwise, with the pieces coloured alternately like a chess board, this is
paly-bendy; if the diagonal lines are reversed,
paly-bendy sinister. If horizontal rather than vertical lines are used, it is
barry-bendy; and similarly, when reversed,
barry-bendy sinister. A field which seems to be composed of a number of triangular pieces is
barry bendy and bendy sinister.
Chequy , today quartered by the
Duke of Norfolk. Effectively a field
azure semée of chequers or with the first chequer placed in the
dexter chief When divided by palewise and fesswise lines into a
chequered pattern, the field is
chequy. The
coat of arms of Croatia Chequy gules and argent is a well known example of the red and white chequy. The arms of a Bleichröder, banker to Bismarck, show chequy
fimbriated (the
chequers being divided by thin lines). The arms of the 85th Air Division (Defense) of the
United States Air Force show
a checky grid on part of the field, though this is to be distinguished from
chequy. The number of chequers is generally indeterminate, though the fess in the arms of Robert Stewart, Lord of Lorn, they are blazoned as being "of four tracts" (in four horizontal rows); and in arms of
Toledo, fifteen chequers are specified. The number of vertical rows can also be specified. When a bend or bend sinister, or one of their diminutives, is chequy, the chequers follow the direction of the bend unless otherwise specified. James Parker cites the French term
equipolle to mean chequy of nine, though mentions that this is identical to a
cross quarter-pierced (strangely, this is blazoned as
a Latin square chequy of nine in the arms of the
Statistical Society of Canada). He also gives the arms of Prospect as an unusual example of chequy,
Chequy in perspective argent and sable; which must be distinguished from cubes as a charge. Chequy is not "fanciable"; that is, the lines of chequy cannot be modified by
lines of partition.
Lozengy, fusilly, masculy and rustré When the shield is divided by both bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines, creating a field of lozenges coloured like a chessboard, the result is
lozengy. A field lozengy must be distinguished from an ordinary such as a bend which is blazoned of one tincture and called
lozengy; this means that the ordinary is entirely composed of lozenges, touching at their obtuse corners. Such arrangement is better blazoned as
lozenges bendwise. In
paly bendy, the bendwise lines are supposed to be less acute than in plain lozengy. Part of the field of the arms of the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group of the United States Air Force is
lozengy in perspective. A field
fusilly can be very difficult to distinguish from a field lozengy; the fusil is supposed to be proportionately narrower than the lozenge, and the bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines are therefore more steeply sloped. A field
masculy is composed entirely of
mascles; that is, lozenges pierced with a lozenge shape – this creates a solid fretwork surface and is to be distinguished from a field
fretty. An extremely rare, possibly unique example of a field
rustré -
counterchanged rustres - occurs in Canadian heraldry in the arms of R.C. Purdy Chocolates Ltd.
Gyronny A shield that is divided quarterly and per saltire, forming eight triangular pieces, is
gyronny. This is technically a field covered with
gyrons, a rare charge in the form of a
wedge, shown individually in the well-known arms of
Mortimer. Possibly the best-known example is in the arms of the Scottish family of Campbell:
Gyronny of eight or and sable, borne most notably by the
Duke of Argyll, Chief of the
Clan Campbell. The first tincture in the blazon is that of the triangle in dexter chief. Gyronny can also have a different number of pieces than eight; for example, Sir William Stokker, Lord Mayor of London, had a field gyronny of six; there may be gyronny of ten or twelve, and the arms of Clackson provide an example of
gyronny of sixteen. While the gyrons of gyronny almost invariably meet in the fess point, the exact centre of the shield, the arms of the
University of Zululand are an unusual example of gyronny meeting in the nombril point, a point on the shield midway between the fess point and the base point. Gyronny can be modified by most of the lines of partition, with exceptions such as dancetty and angled. The
canting arms of Maugiron show
gyronny of six, clearly deemed
mal-gironné ('badly gyronny').
Variations of lines Any of the division lines composing the variations of the field above may be blazoned with most of the different
line shapes; e.g.
paly nebuly of six, or and sable. One very common use of this is
barry wavy azure and argent; this is often used to represent either
water or a body of water in general, or the sea in particular, though there are other if less commonly used methods of representing the sea, including in a more naturalistic manner. == Semé ==