In Polish heraldry, many coats of arms have lost their original or oldest known zymer (crest). This is due to mistakes made by printers in the 16th century when compiling the oldest Polish heraldry in order to minimise printing costs, and to the blurring of ancestral records confirming the correct crest for a given coat of arms. Due to errors and omissions, the information given in Paprocki’s (Armorial from 1578) and Niesiecki’s (Armorial from 1738) was taken as the zymer. This is not a definitive rule for all arms, but many have lost the original zymer and replaced it with three or five ostrich feathers as described by Paprocki and Niesiecki.
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It should be a quadrangular or rather square grave, two crosses on the sides, one on the left, the other on the right, the third in the middle, on the helmet five or three ostrich feathers. Paproc. in Gnieździe Cnoty (Nest of Virtue) armorial from 1578, f.1196. o herb. fol. 679. okol. tom. 2. fol. 232. jewels fol. 103. but MS. Es. Rutki says that on the helmet there should be a fox between two trumpets (the colour of the fox and the trumpets is not given). However, not everyone uses this form of the coat of arms, only Andruszkiewiczes, Bielewiczes, Stankiewiczes, Dowgirds, Bogdanowiczes, Solouchs and Monstwil, and Wysocki and Zodejko. Others, like the Bychowcowie, use only two crosses of the grave, i.e. one should be on top, in the centre of the grave, and the other below, apparently upside down.
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final work / Acrylics & Watercolors
size 50×70 cm
