watercolour

Item

470mm x 385mm

Watercolour and pencil drawing of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. Marked 'Chester Herald' which is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London and possibly 'J Heaton- Armstrong' who was Sir John Heaton-Armstrong, he was the Chester Herald between 1926 and 1956. It is possible that this was part of a commission for the Collage of Arms. The function of the Royal Coat of Arms is to identify the person who is head of state. The Royal School of Needlework (previously the Royal School of Art Needlework) often had commissions from the crown and from government and other institutions to produced embroidered versions of the coat of arms. The Royal School of Needlework as an organisation with royal patronage also used the Royal Coat of Arms on its own products.

The shield shows the various royal emblems of different parts of the United Kingdom: the three lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the lion of Scotland in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third. It is surrounded by a garter bearing the motto 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' ('Evil to him who evil thinks'), which symbolises the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of knighthood of which the King or Queen is Sovereign.

The shield is supported by the English lion on the left and Scottish unicorn on the right and is surmounted by the crown. Below it appears the motto of the Sovereign, 'Dieu et mon droit' ('God and my right'). The plant badges of the United Kingdom - rose, thistle and shamrock - are displayed beneath the shield.

The Scottish version of the Royal Coat of Arms is slightly different and originate from the union of the crown under James I in 1603.

Marked 'Chester Herald' which is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London and possibly 'J Heaton- Armstrong' who was Sir John Heaton-Armstrong, he was the Chester Herald between 1926 and 1956

D5/046