Jun-09 Issue (Page 1) - The Heraldry Society

14
Amongst the London
Guilds the Worshipful
Society of Apothecaries is
the only one to feature a
rhinoceros in its arms. In
the grant of 1617 the
blazon is:
Arms: Azure Apollo the
inventor of physic proper
with his head radiant
holding in his left hand a
bow and in his right hand
an arrow Or supplanting a
serpent Argent.
Crest: A rhinoceros
proper.
Supporters: Two
unicorns Or armed and
unguled Argent.
To my knowledge, no
one has yet found any
documentation to explain why
the rhinoceros was chosen by
the heralds to be the crest in
the Society’s coat of arms.
The rhinoceros featured in
the arms is Durer’s rhino of
1515. There is an original
engraving framed and on
display at Apothecaries Hall on
the Landing. This has a second
and much smaller horn
protruding from between its
shoulder blades on its back
which is often portrayed when
the arms are drawn. Durer had
not seen the living animal and
worked from someone else's
description of it - hence this
erroneous second horn. The
following excerpt from T H
Clarke’s book The Rhinoceros
from Durer to Stubbs 1515-
1799 (1986) is of note:”We
know that Durer shared with
many of his age in the
fascination of the exotic; and
we know of his close
relationship with the
THE APOTHECARIES ARMS
armourers of Nuremberg.
These two facts are answer
enough as to why he made the
woodcut. For the exotic, Durer
wrote in his notebook after his
journey to the Netherlands in
1520-1, where he saw for
himself a group of Mexican
works of art, that they were all
much fairer to behold than any
marvel.
Given the armoured nature
of Durer’s rhino and the fact
that heraldry originated with
armoured knights it is
tempting to conjecture that
the image may thus have
come to the notice of the
College of Arms and was then
chosen as a novelty exotic
creature. Exotic beasts and
oriental designs (eg
chinoiserie) were in vogue in
the decorative arts from the
beginning of the 16th century
onwards as a result of travels
and voyages to the then ìweird
E-mail the editor at gazette@theheraldrysociety.com
and wonderfulî foreign
parts of the globe. They
were frequently used in
designs for all sorts of
household and other
items such as household
furniture and clocks.
Similarly, the association
with the perceived
medicinal properties of
the rhino horn may have
influenced the herald
responsible for designing
the Society’s arms. It may
also have been felt
appropriate to blur the
distinction between rhino
horns and unicorn horns
(in truth, narwhal tusks or
teeth). This is because the
two supporters in the
Society’s armorial
bearings are unicorns, James
VI’s favoured beasts in his
Scottish royal arms which he
brought south on becoming
James I, and both types of
horns were considered useful
as drugs when finely ground.
The first live rhino to be seen
in London was at the Belle
Sauvage Inn on Ludgate Hill in
1684 - only a bow's arrow
from Apothecaries' Hall.
There is the suggestion that
Durer's rhino looks armoured
because the description he
used was of an animal that
was actually dressed in
armour, and that this is also
why there is a "second horn".
The story and this theory is
expounded in Glynis Ridley's
book entitled “Clara's Grand
Tour. Travels with a
Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-
Century Europe” (2004). The
Indian rhino in question (not
Clara, who was a different