So, it seems your familiarity with heraldry is more from a historical perspective. My suggestion was to take a look at the rules and the traditional patterns on which heraldic designs are based.
Be that as it may, let's start at the beginning - at the top of VMs Pisces on the outer ring - and look for patterns that might correspond with those established by heraldic tradition some two centuries or so before the VMs parchment dates.
Definition: Paly - a pattern of alternating, vertical stripes. Two examples at the top of VMs Pisces.
Definition: Bendy sinister- a pattern of alternating, diagonal stripes from upper left (sinister) to lower right (dexter). Example at about 2 o'clock.
Note: Right and left are defined from the perspective of the person holding the shield.
Definition: Chevrony - a pattern of alternating, diagonal stripes in the form of multiple chevrons. Example at about 3 o'clock.
Definition: Barry - a pattern of alternating, horizontal stripes. Example after 3 o'clock.
Definition: Annulet - a ring. An example with multiple rings could be called annuletty, but no example has been found in use. Example at about 4 o'clock.
Definition: Semy of roundels - a pattern of circles (roundels) arranged across the insignia. Example before 6 o'clock.
Definition: Semy - scattered or generally in staggered rows. Like the old French coat of arms - azur, semy of fleur-de-lis or
Note: These patterns have a series of specific names depending of the tincture of the circles. Gold is bezanty because bezants are gold coins. But there is no color designation here.
Example: Paly - before 9 o'clock - third example.
Definition: Papelonny - a scale-like pattern, with etymological derivation from the French word for butterfly and reputedly based upon the scale-like structure seen on a butterfly's wing. I suppose the occurrence of eye-like designs sometimes seen on the wings are the reason there are dots on the pattern. Example between 10 and 11.
And on to the top of Dark Aries:
Definition: Plain - an insignia that has a single tincture and no pattern. Example at the top of Dark Aries and another to the left.
Note: Of course it is difficult to say what tincture has been 'given' to an unpainted image. So I won't count them here. I'll count them on the next page, with examples of solid blues and greens, and a little dab of red.
Despite the simplicity they are rather uncommon.
But let's continue Dark Aries.
Example: Paly - number four - midway in the first quarter on the outer ring.
Example: Semy of roundels - number two at 3 o'clock on the outer ring.
Definition: Bendy - a pattern of alternating stripes on the dexter diagonal. Example at 4 o'clock on the outer ring.
Example: Papelonny - second example. between 10 an 11 on the inner circle.
And finally on White Aries there are the two blue-striped patterns, which I will not go into here, because the point has already been made. I have pretty much cherry-picked the best examples, and the examples themselves are not necessarily perfectly drawn and I clearly do not include an explanation for every tub pattern. The point is that heraldry does provide a useful set of definitions for the VMs examples listed above. Does some other system name and define any of the tub patterns? Perhaps ideas can be promulgated not just by the accuracy of specific images, but by their numbers instead. Then it's just a matter of how concentrated those images should be. There seems to be a modern expectation of 'why don't all tub patterns equate to heraldic insignia?' But even in these few pages the illustrations show much that is unfinished, incomplete, sloppy and ambiguous. Even so, there is no confusion in matching the traditional, heraldic definitions with the VMs illustrations. Ambiguity is clearly a tactic used in the illustrations and non-heraldic images may be intended to misguide investigators and take them off the track. After all, if you give up and don't find the papelonny pair, you won't discover the clever heraldic canting put in palace. And you will have no concept of the author's sophistication and 'slight-of-hand' deception.
The simple purpose of heraldic images is to introduce the idea of heraldry, in fact, the idea of paired heraldry. Paired heraldry in the paly patterns at the top of Pisces, paired patterns of the semy of roundels and the papelonny designs, paired heraldry of the Fieschi family and the origins of the ecclesiastical tradition of the red galero - disguised by an optical illusion.
Be that as it may, let's start at the beginning - at the top of VMs Pisces on the outer ring - and look for patterns that might correspond with those established by heraldic tradition some two centuries or so before the VMs parchment dates.
Definition: Paly - a pattern of alternating, vertical stripes. Two examples at the top of VMs Pisces.
Definition: Bendy sinister- a pattern of alternating, diagonal stripes from upper left (sinister) to lower right (dexter). Example at about 2 o'clock.
Note: Right and left are defined from the perspective of the person holding the shield.
Definition: Chevrony - a pattern of alternating, diagonal stripes in the form of multiple chevrons. Example at about 3 o'clock.
Definition: Barry - a pattern of alternating, horizontal stripes. Example after 3 o'clock.
Definition: Annulet - a ring. An example with multiple rings could be called annuletty, but no example has been found in use. Example at about 4 o'clock.
Definition: Semy of roundels - a pattern of circles (roundels) arranged across the insignia. Example before 6 o'clock.
Definition: Semy - scattered or generally in staggered rows. Like the old French coat of arms - azur, semy of fleur-de-lis or
Note: These patterns have a series of specific names depending of the tincture of the circles. Gold is bezanty because bezants are gold coins. But there is no color designation here.
Example: Paly - before 9 o'clock - third example.
Definition: Papelonny - a scale-like pattern, with etymological derivation from the French word for butterfly and reputedly based upon the scale-like structure seen on a butterfly's wing. I suppose the occurrence of eye-like designs sometimes seen on the wings are the reason there are dots on the pattern. Example between 10 and 11.
And on to the top of Dark Aries:
Definition: Plain - an insignia that has a single tincture and no pattern. Example at the top of Dark Aries and another to the left.
Note: Of course it is difficult to say what tincture has been 'given' to an unpainted image. So I won't count them here. I'll count them on the next page, with examples of solid blues and greens, and a little dab of red.
Despite the simplicity they are rather uncommon.
But let's continue Dark Aries.
Example: Paly - number four - midway in the first quarter on the outer ring.
Example: Semy of roundels - number two at 3 o'clock on the outer ring.
Definition: Bendy - a pattern of alternating stripes on the dexter diagonal. Example at 4 o'clock on the outer ring.
Example: Papelonny - second example. between 10 an 11 on the inner circle.
And finally on White Aries there are the two blue-striped patterns, which I will not go into here, because the point has already been made. I have pretty much cherry-picked the best examples, and the examples themselves are not necessarily perfectly drawn and I clearly do not include an explanation for every tub pattern. The point is that heraldry does provide a useful set of definitions for the VMs examples listed above. Does some other system name and define any of the tub patterns? Perhaps ideas can be promulgated not just by the accuracy of specific images, but by their numbers instead. Then it's just a matter of how concentrated those images should be. There seems to be a modern expectation of 'why don't all tub patterns equate to heraldic insignia?' But even in these few pages the illustrations show much that is unfinished, incomplete, sloppy and ambiguous. Even so, there is no confusion in matching the traditional, heraldic definitions with the VMs illustrations. Ambiguity is clearly a tactic used in the illustrations and non-heraldic images may be intended to misguide investigators and take them off the track. After all, if you give up and don't find the papelonny pair, you won't discover the clever heraldic canting put in palace. And you will have no concept of the author's sophistication and 'slight-of-hand' deception.
The simple purpose of heraldic images is to introduce the idea of heraldry, in fact, the idea of paired heraldry. Paired heraldry in the paly patterns at the top of Pisces, paired patterns of the semy of roundels and the papelonny designs, paired heraldry of the Fieschi family and the origins of the ecclesiastical tradition of the red galero - disguised by an optical illusion.
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