Coat of Arms
According to Wikipedia, "A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on an escutcheon (i.e. shield), surcoat, or tabard. A surcoat, and subsequently a coat of arms was used by medieval knights to cover, protect, and identify the wearer. Thus these are sometimes termed coat armory. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement which consists of shield, supporters, crest, and motto. The design is a symbol unique to an individual person or family (except in the UK), corporation, or state. Such displays are commonly called armorial bearings, armorial devices, heraldic devices, or simply arms. The ancient Romans used similar insignias on their shields, but these identified military units rather than individuals. The first evidence of medieval coats of arms is found in the Bayeux Tapestry from the 11th Century, where some of the combatants carry shields painted with crosses. Coats of arms came into general use by feudal lords and knights in battle in the 12th Century. By the 13th Century arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a kind of flag or logo for families in the higher social classes of Europe, inherited from one generation to the next. [...] In the German-speaking region both the aristocracy and burghers (non-noble free citizens) used arms [...] The use of arms spread to Church clergy, and to towns as civic identifiers, and to royally-chartered organizations such as universities and trading companies. Flags developed from coats of arms, and the arts of vexillology and heraldry are closely related. The coats of arms granted to commercial companies are a major source of the modern logo. In the 21st century, coats of arms are still in use by a variety of institutions and individuals; for example, many European cities and universities have guidelines on how their coats of arms may be used, and protect their use as trademarks. Many societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms. Some nations, like England and Scotland, still maintain the same heraldic authorities which have traditionally granted and regulated arms for centuries and continue to do so in the present day." The art of family crest - coat of arm is closely relate to "heraldry." According to Wikipedia, "Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander". The word, in its most general sense, encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. To most, though, heraldry is the practice of designing, displaying, describing, and recording coats of arms and heraldic badges."
For any questions, please send me an email ([email protected]).
For any questions, please send me an email ([email protected]).
History of the Family Name Locke (骆) in China
This page displays the design of the Family Crest - Coat of Arm Insignia for the Sakda-Locke Family Clan, one of the "minority" Manchu and Han-Chinese family clan (the 152nd among all family names in China and in Overseas Chinese Communities where the Han-Chinese constitutes around 95% out of a population of 1.2 billion, or 0.1% of this population i.e., around 1.2 million people). On the Han-Chinese side the Locke (骆) family name came from Ying (嬴), one of the Eight Aristocratic Family Clans lasting 1000 years of early Han-Chinese history dated back to the times from the Zhou Dynasty (11th Century B.C. to 256th B.C.) to the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. to 207 B.C. ). The Royal House of the Kingdom of Yue (越国) and of its successor, the Kingdom of Min Yue (闽越国, about 770 B.C to 110 B.C), also share the Locke family name. Over many centuries, many ethnic groups adopted Han-Chinese culture and some of them adopted the family name Locke as well. During the Qing Dynasty's rule, the Sakda (萨克达in Mandarin,"Old" in Manchu language) family clan, one of the Eight Manchu Aristocratic Family Clans, adopted the Locke family name after the 1911 anti-Manchu Rebellion. Empress Xiaodexian (孝德显皇后, 12 April 1831 to 24 January 1850), born in the Manchu Sakda clan (under the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners), was the first Empress Consort of the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. After the end of the Qing Dynasty rule, a small number of members of the large Imperial House of Aisinjioro Clan (now numbering around 140,000 in China) also adopted the Locke family name. Based on the above data, it could be reasonably concluded that the family name Locke basically belong to two groups of people: (1) Han-Chinese from an ancient aristocratic clan, and (2) Manchu aristocrats from the Sakda family clan. Most of the Han-Chinese bearing the Locke family name live in the Southern provinces of China such as Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi; and most of the Manchu and other ethnic peoples bearing the Locke family name live in the Northern provinces of China such as Xinjiang and Hebei; and a lot of them (approximately 20% of all people in China and in Overseas Chinese Communities bearing the Locke family name, regardless of ethnic group) live in Beijing due to the fact that the Manchu aristocrats governed China under the Qing Empire from the capital city of Beijing.
Composition of the Family Crest - Coat of Arm Insignia
Starting the Heraldic Design …
The design of a coat of arm insignia usually starts with the shape of a shield and the partition of the field (division of the shield into sections to place decorative symbols or figures, which are known as “charges or devices”). The “charges or devices” could be categorized as (1) “ordinaries” (the cross, chief, fess, pale, satire, chevron, bend and bend sinister), or (2) “sub-ordinaries” (flora, fauna, zodiacs, celestial objects, anchor, book, castle tower, weapons and human form, part or whole, used as lines of partition). “Tinctures” or colors could be used for heraldic achievements, and there are three groups of tinctures, i.e., metals (gold and silver), (2) colors (red, blue, green, purple, and black ), and (3) furs (ermine and sable). Gold and silver can never be used alongside yellow and white.
Figure CA-2C. The headgear of a typical heraldic design could be crowns or helmet (traditionally lined in red), or velvet chapeaus. In the heraldic design for the Locke Family Name, the Crowns of the Manchu Qing Emperor (left) and of the Empress Dowager (right) are used to represent Manchu people’s idea of equality between men and women in the family life.
Symbolic meanings of the various graphical elements in the headgear design
The badge on the Emperor’s Crown includes the motto “Harmony in Diversity.” The badge on the Empress Dowager’s Crown is the logo of the Manchu Arts and Crafts Emporium. On top of both Crowns are the modified upper part of the Soyombo, a symbol of the Mongolian people, a close ethic kin to the Manchus. The elements of the modified Soyombo are given the following significance: (1) the fire is a general symbol of eternal growth, wealth, and success (the three tongues of the flame represent the past, present, and future); (2) the arga-bilge (Yin-yang) symbol illustrates the mutual complement of man and woman; and (3) the moon, together with the three tongues of flame, symbolize that the Manchu Nation will exist for eternity. Manchu women, as well as Mongolian women and those from most of other minority ethnic groups in China, did not have the custom of feet-binding. In family life, Manchu women enjoyed quasi-equal status as men even under the Qing Dynasty. Throughout 268 years of Qing Dynasty rule in China, Manchu Emperors had to periodically report the affairs of the state to their mothers as a sign of filial piety. Prominent Manchu women played important role in Chinese history. For example, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (孝庄皇太后, Bumbutai Borjigit), born born of the Mongol Borjigit clan as a descendent of Hasar, a younger brother of Genghis Khan, was a concubine of Aisingioro Khong Tayiji, the Second Emperor of Qing Dynasty, played an important role in uniting Manchu and Chinese peoples as a coalition force for the establishment of the multi-cultural Qing Empire, and gained widespread respect among Chinese people as an extraordinary role model for frugality, charity, tolerance and altruism. The Empress Dowager Cixi (Yehemara Xingzhen), the de facto ruler of China in the late four decades of the Qing Dynasty (1861-1908), promoted many social, economic, educational and political reforms to promote modernization China, including sending the first generation of Chinese students to the United States, establishing the first Western-style university (the School of Combined Learning or 同文馆, 1862), promoting qualified British citizens to high-ranking Chinese Goverment offices (for example, Sir Robert Hart, an Irish-British, served as the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911. Another example is Charles George Gordon, a British humanitarian and anti-slavery abolitionist, who in March 1863 took command of the military force known as the "Ever Victorious Army (常胜军)," to help restore law and order in China against the cultist Taiping Rebellion). The Empress Dowager Cixi also made contribution s to China by promoting freedom of press and preparing for a British-style democratic government under constitutional monarchy. Figure CA-2D. In heraldic design, the motto alludes to the name or war cry of the bearer of the coat of arm, is a short phrase or sentence usually placed below the shield, and is typically in Latin or the bearer’s native language. The Chinese Motto on the scroll reads “To Practice Benevolence to the Downtrodden and Piety to the Gods in Heavens for the Sake of Manjisri, and to Seek Harmony among Peoples from All Ethnic Groups.” This summarizes the Sprit of the Eight Banners during the reign of Qing Dynasty, an important period in Chinese history when many areas of China today, which had been torn apart by numerous bloody wars among ethnic groups, were unified into a harmonious entity for all groups of people to peaceably coexist, and a period for China to transit from medieval agricultural society to modern society with various forms of economic activities. The English Motto reads “For the Glory of Mangisri and Peace among Nations.” This summarizes the Sprit of the New Eight Banners, i.e., the new generations of the Manchu people, in the Age of Globalization. The yellow and white colors on the scroll symbolize the Three Upper Banners (上三旗) , i.e., the Bordered Yellow Banner (镶黄旗), the Regular Yellow Banner (正黄旗), and the Regular White Banner (正白旗), which were under the direct command of the Qing Emperor. In a typical heraldic design, the motto could be placed on a scroll or a mantle; the mantles are more elaborate and could be attached to the headgear with a wreath or a variety of objects such as animal, plants, birds and humans.
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About the Manchu people ...The Manchu-led Qing Dynasty governed China as an aristocratic-gentry society where “political power came from the tip of the brush” (people became government officers through Civil Service Examination) and “honors came from the donation box” (the wealthy Han-Chinese landowners or entrepreneurs who could not come to power by passing the Civil Service Examination could obtain honorary titles through charitable contributions to society). After the end of the Manchu-led Qing Government, China degenerated into a succession of Civil Wars lasting more than thirty-eight years (1911-1949) that sharply fragmented Chinese society both in China and Overseas; and unlike under the Manchu-led Qing Government, the Republican Era (“民国时代," 1911-1949) was known for its bloody civil wars when “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” and “honors” came from the bloody accumulation and extravagant show-off of family wealth, and as a society torn apart by despotic landowners and fraudulent nouveau rich on one side, and revengeful rebels from the masses of newly impoverished peasants on the other side. Many Manchu people and Han-Chinese Qing Government supporters emigrated Overseas to avoid discrimination and persecution. Many of them work behind the scene to promote China’s modernization, social reconciliation and re-admission into the mainstream international community. In recent years, movies have been shot and history books published in China, Taiwan and overseas, telling the true story about the contributions made by the Qing Government and by the Manchu people to the cause of social progress in China and to China’s friendship with foreign nations.
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Figure CA-2E. In heraldic design, the supporters are usually animals, humans or fantastic creatures standing on the left and right sides of the shield. The supporters and the shield stand on a base called a “compartment,” usually a mound of grass as seen in this design. For the Coat of Arm Insignia for the Locke Family Name, the supporters include the Happy Lion waving the Flag of the New Eight Banners, a 3D image created in Autodesk Maya symbolizing the courage and strength of the Manchu Nation (left) and the Happy Mouse holding the Flag of the Manchu Nation, a 3D image created in Autodesk 3ds MAX alluding to the mouse of a computer, and symbolizing the Manchu Nation’s love for scientific and technological progress (right).
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About the Flags ...
The Flag of the New Eight Banners, my design, is symbolic of the solidarity of good peoples from all ethnic groups and all social classes in their endeavors to build a harmonious and sustainable One World community, based on the great universal values of charity, ecology, equality, fairness, rationality, human rights, freedom, and democracy. With the revival of Manchu Civilization, the Flag of the Manchu Nation has been designed by Manchu artist in China. |
Figure CA-2F. In this heraldic design, the flowers used and their significances are (1) the sunflower symbolic of political loyalty and of the Manchu Nation (top right), (2) the lotus flower symbolic of religious faith and of the Mongolia people (top left), and (3) the peony blossom symbolic of economic prosperity and of the Han-Chinese people (bottom). The central portions of the flowers (stigma, style, stamens, and filament) have been changed to the shapes of hearts with the Liquify Filter submenu from the Filters menu and with the Warp tool from the Transform submenu of the Edit menu, in Photoshop.
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About the flowers ...
More information on the flowers used in this design (sunflower, lotus flower, and peony blossom) and on the structure of a typical flower(stigma, style, stamens, and filament) can be found online by clicking the linked text. |
Reference Books
- Alan Weller, Heraldic Vector Designs (Dover Pictura Electronic Clip Art), ISBN 978-0-486-99079-8 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a good reference book for coat-of-arms design).
- William Metzig, Heraldry for the Designer, ASIN: B0006BZ2HE (Edward Locke's Note: This is a good reference book for coat-of-arms design).
Recommended YouTube Videos: Coat of Arms Design
Edward Locke's SuniSea Studio
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