Swallowtail merlons... or provenance
#30
Since Ghibelline merlons (as opposed to later decorative swallowtail merlons) had a specific political meaning, the merlons were sometimes used as a symbol of who was fighting whom and for what, just as banners and coats and arms were used to show who was fighting whom in many old medieval drawings.

They weren't always meant to represent a specific building (the merlons only physically existed in the Lombardic northern areas (what is now northern Italy) and, to some extent, in Rhodes (brought there by the Templars). Then they spread to Prague and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Now they are everywhere.
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Swallowtail merlons... or provenance - by david - 09-01-2016, 10:00 AM
RE: Swallowtail merlons... or provenance - by -JKP- - 30-10-2017, 09:17 AM

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