Field (heraldry) - Definition and Overview

In heraldry the background of the shield is called the field . The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures (colours or metals) or furs.

In extremely rare cases, the field is not a tincture, but may be a landscape. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, in his Art of Heraldry, states that while there are many coats in British heraldry in which the charges make up a landscape, there is only one, the arms of Lopes, where the field itself is so described: "In a landscape field, a fountain, therefrom issuing a palm-tree all proper." However, Fox-Davies is incorrect, as in 1751 Robert Dinwiddie in Scotland was granted a coat of the following blazon: Party per Fesse two landskips the first (the uppermost) holding a wild Indian at full draught his bow bent, marking at a stag standing at full Gaze Regardant proper The Emblem of the Earth, And in base, the Emblem of water with a sloop under sail, within sight of and making towards a distant land Representing America.[1] (http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk/Homepage.htm) Landscape fields are regarded by many heralds as unheraldic and deprecated, as they cannot be consistently drawn from blazon.

For further detail on the field, see variations of the field.