Escutcheon
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Escutcheon is the term used in heraldry for the shield displayed in a coat of arms. An inescutcheon is a smaller escutcheon borne within a larger escutcheon.
The term "escutcheon" also refers to the shield-like shape on which arms are often borne. The escutcheon shape is based on the Medieval shields that were used by knights in combat. Since this shape has been regarded as a war-like device appropriate to men only, ladies customarily bear their arms upon a lozenge, or diamond-shape, while clergymen bear theirs on a cartouche, or oval. Other shapes are possible, such as the roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
Derived from its meaning in heraldry, the term "escutcheon" can be used to represent a family and its honour. A family member who does something shameful can be described as a "blot on the escutcheon."
In English Heraldry the husband of a heraldic heiress - a woman without any brothers - places her father's arms in an escutcheon of pretence in the centre of his own shield. The husband is 'pretending' to be the head of of his wife's family. In the next generation the arms would then be quartered.
Other meanings
- An escutcheon is also an item of door furniture. In this case, it is an architectural item that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder. Escutcheons are mainly decorative; they draw the eye to the keyhole, but some help to protect a lock cylinder from drilling, snapping etc.
- An escutcheon is also used in bathroom plumbing. It is the chrome plate behind a knob on a shower's temperature and water flow control.
- In the German army under the National Socialist regime, military awards worn on the sleeve near the shoulder were also called escutcheon or shields.
- On ships, the escutcheon is the name plate on the rear of the vessel.
- Military escutcheon, a chromolithography depicting the military record of a veteran, which were produced in the United States from the end of the Civil War until about 1907. [link]
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