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Emblem
 
 
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An emblem is a pictorial image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
, abstract
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world....
 or representational, that epitomizes a concept
Concept

A concept is a cognition unit of meaning— an abstraction idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics....
 — e.g., a moral
Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim....
 truth
Truth

semantic fields for the word truth extend from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular....
, or an allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint
Saint symbology

Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life. Symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church....
.

words emblem and symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
 often appear interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without causing undue confusion.






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the Wilton Diptych (right)


An emblem is a pictorial image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
, abstract
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world....
 or representational, that epitomizes a concept
Concept

A concept is a cognition unit of meaning— an abstraction idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics....
 — e.g., a moral
Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim....
 truth
Truth

semantic fields for the word truth extend from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular....
, or an allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint
Saint symbology

Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life. Symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church....
.

Distinction: emblem and symbol

The words emblem and symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
 often appear interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without causing undue confusion. A distinction between the two may seem unnecessarily fastidious. Nevertheless, an emblem is a pattern that is used to represent an idea
Idea

An idea is a form formed by consciousness through the process of Ideation . Human capability to contemplate ideas is associated with the ability of reasoning, human self-reflection, and of the ability to acquire and apply intellect, intuition, inspiration, etc.....
, or an individual. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, a virtue or a vice. An emblem is an object or a representation of an object.

An emblem may be worn or otherwise used as an identifying badge
Badge

A badge is a personal device, patch, or accoutrement which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath , a sign of legitimate employment or student status, or as a simple means of identification....
. A real or metal cockle shell, the emblem of St James the Apostle, sewn onto the hat or clothes identified a medieval pilgrim to his shrine at Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain of Galicia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the north west of Spain in the A Coru?a , it was the "European City of Culture" for the year 2000....
. In the Middle Ages, many saints were given emblems, which served to identify them in paintings and other images: St Catherine had a wheel, or a sword, St Anthony Abbot a pig and a small bell. These are also called attributes, especially when shown carried by or in close proximity to the saint in art. Kings and other grand persons increasingly adopted personal device
Personal device

A personal device is closely related to the picture-text combinations called emblems found in emblem books. Popular from late medieval times, the personal device typically consisted of a visual image and a short text or "motto", which when read in combination were intended to convey a sense of the aspirations or character of the bearer....
s or emblems that were distinct from their family heraldry
Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
. The most famous include Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV ruled as List of French monarchs and of King of Navarre. He ascended the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his prime minister , the Italians Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661....
's sun, the salamander
Salamander (legendary creature)

The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela. As with many real creatures, pre-modern authors often ascribed fantastic qualities to it , and in recent times some have come to identify a legendary salamander as a distinct concept from the real organism....
 of Francis I of France
Francis I of France

Francis I , was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch....
, the boar
Boar

The wild boar , or colloquially simply called the boar, is an omnivorous, wikt:gregarious mammal of the family Suidae. It is native across much of Central Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and much of Asia as far south as Indonesia, and has been introduced elsewhere....
 of Richard III of England
Richard III of England

Richard III was List of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England of Kingdom of England from 1483 until his death. He was the last king from the House of York, and his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the culmination of the Wars of the Roses and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty....
 and the armillary sphere
Armillary sphere

An armillary sphere is a model of the celestial sphere....
 of Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I ; Portuguese language: Manoel I, English language: Emmanuel I), the Fortunate , 14th List of Portuguese monarchs was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, by his wife, Beatriz of Portugal ....
. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century there was a fashion, started in Italy, for making large medal
Medal

A medal is usually a coin-like sculpted object of metal or other material that has been engraved with an insignia, portrait or other artistic rendering....
s with a portrait head on the obverse and the emblem on the reverse; these would be given to friends and as diplomatic gifts. Pisanello
Pisanello

Pisanello , known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento....
 produced many of the earliest and finest of these. In current American usage, police officers' badges refer specifically to their personal metal emblem — sometimes with a uniquely identifying number or name on it — while the woven emblems sewn on their uniforms identify all the members of a particular unit.

A symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
 substitutes one thing for another, in a more concrete fashion:
  • The Christian cross is a symbol of the Crucifixion; it is an emblem of sacrifice.
  • The Red Cross is a symbol of the International Red Cross
    International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

    The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international Humanitarianism movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide which started to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, Race , relig...
    . A red cross on a white flag is the emblem of the humanitarian spirit.
  • The crescent
    Crescent

    In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circle disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points ....
     shape is a symbol of the moon; it is an emblem of Islam.
  • The skull and crossbones
    Skull and crossbones

    A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two bones crossed together under the skull. Today, it is generally used as a warning of danger ....
     is an symbol identifying a poison. The skull
    Skull (symbolism)

    Skull symbolism is the attachment of symbolism meaning to the human skull. The most common symbolic use of the skull is as a representation of death and mortality, but such a reading varies with changing cultural contexts....
     is an emblem of the transitory human life.


Other terminology

A totem
Totem

A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan, or tribe .Totems support larger groups than the individual person....
 is specifically an animal emblem that expresses the spirit of a clan
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
. Heraldry
Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
 knows its emblems as charge
Charge (heraldry)

In heraldry and vexillology, a charge is an image occupying the field on an Escutcheon . Charge can also be a verb; for example, if an escutcheon bears three Lion s, then it is said to be charged with three lions. It is important to distinguish between divisions of the field and charges, and to note that charges can themselves be c...
s. The lion passant serves as the emblem of England, the lion rampant as the emblem of Scotland.

An icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
 consists of an image (originally a religious image), that has become standardized by convention. A logo
Logo

A logo is a graphical element that, together with its logotype form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo's design is for immediate recognition....
 is an impersonal, secular icon, usually of a corporate entity
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
.

Emblems in history

Since the 15th century the terms of emblem (emblema) and emblematura belong to the termini technici of architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
. They mean an icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
ic painted, drawn, or sculptural representation of a concept affixed to houses and belong — like the inscriptions — to the architectural ornaments (ornamenta). Since the publication of De architectura libri decem by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) the emblems (emblema) are related to Egyptian hieroglyphics and are considered as being a secret iconic language. Therefore the emblems belong to the Renaissance knowledge of antiquity which comprises not only Greek and Roman antiquity but also Egyptian antiquity as proven by the numerous obelisks built in 16th and 17th century Rome.

The 1531 publication in Augsburg of the first emblem book
Emblem book

Emblem books are a particular style of illustrated book developed in Europe during the 16th and 17th century in literature, normally containing about one hundred combinations of pictures and text....
, the Emblemata
Emblemata

Usually known simply as the "'Emblemata'", the first emblem book appeared in Augsburg in 1531 under the title Viri Clarissimi D. Andreae Alciati Iurisconsultiss....
 of the Italian jurist Andrea Alciato
Andrea Alciato

Andrea Alciato, commonly known as Alciati , was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists....
 launched a fascination with emblems that lasted two centuries and touched most of the countries of western Europe. "Emblem" in this sense refers to a didactic or moralizing combination of picture and text intended to draw the reader into a self-reflective examination of his or her own life
Personal life

File:Roscheid Hunsr?ckhaus innen.jpgPersonal life is the course of an individual human's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's Identity ....
. Complicated associations of emblems could transmit information to the culturally-informed viewer, a characteristic of the 16th century artistic movement called Mannerism
Mannerism

Mannerism is a Art periods of European art which emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but continued into the seventeenth century throughout much of Europe....
.

See also

  • National emblem
    National emblem

    A national emblem national symbols represents a nation. Most national emblems originate in the natural world, such as animals or birds, but another object may serve....
  • Symbol
    Symbol

    A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
  • Emblem book
    Emblem book

    Emblem books are a particular style of illustrated book developed in Europe during the 16th and 17th century in literature, normally containing about one hundred combinations of pictures and text....
  • Meme
    Meme

    A meme is a unit or element of culture ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena....
  • Insignia
    Insignia

    Insignia is a symbol or token of personal power , status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction. Insignia are especially used as an emblem of a specific or general authority....
  • Saint symbology
    Saint symbology

    Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life. Symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church....
  • Coat of Arms
    Coat of arms

    A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....