Editing Variation of the field (section)

== Patterning with ordinaries and subordinaries ==

The diminutives of the [[Ordinary (heraldry)|ordinaries]] are frequently employed to vary the field.

Any of these patterns may be [[Tincture (heraldry)#Counterchanging and countercolouring|counterchanged]] by the addition of a division line; for example, ''barry [[argent]] and azure, counterchanged per fess'' or ''checquy [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] and [[gules]], counterchanged per chevron''.

=== Barry, paly, bendy, pily, chevronny ===
[[File:Blason fr burelé 10.svg|thumb|100px|A shield ''barry of ten argent and gules'']]
When the field is patterned with an even number of horizontal (fesswise) stripes, this is described as ''barry'' e.g. of six or eight, usually of a colour and metal specified, e.g. ''barry of six [[argent]] and [[gules]]'' (this implies that the chiefmost piece is argent).{{efn|More rarely, a barry field can be of two colours or two metals. The arms of the [[Kingdom of Hawai'i]] show a very unusual example of barry of three different tinctures, and there are even more exceptional examples of barry of a single tincture, as in the arms of Kempten on the Zurich roll.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ZurichRoll/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110806033056/http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ZurichRoll/ |archive-date=August 6, 2011 |title=Zurich roll}}</ref> The arms of Eyfelsberg zum Weyr provide a perhaps unique example of barry of four different tinctures that do not repeat.<ref>{{harvp|Woodward |Burnett|1892|page=669}}</ref>}} With ten or more pieces, the field is described as ''barruly''.
A field with narrow [[Pile (heraldry)|piles]] throughout, issuing from either the dexter or sinister side of the shield, is ''barry pily''.
[[File:Paly demo.svg|thumb|100px|left|A shield ''paly argent and gules'']]
When the field is patterned with an even number of vertical stripes (pallets), the field is described as ''paly''. 
[[File:Ecu bandé d'azur et d'argent.svg|thumb|100px|A shield ''bendy azure and argent '']]
[[File:Blason ville fr Milhavet (Tarn).svg|thumb|100px|A shield ''bendy sinister sable and argent'']]
[[File:Chevronny or and gules.svg|thumb|left|100px|A shield ''Chevronny Or and gules'']]
When the field is patterned with a series of diagonal stripes (bendlets), running from top-left to bottom-right, the field is described as ''bendy''. In the opposite fashion (top-right to bottom-left) it is ''bendy sinister'' (of ''skarpes'', the diminutive in [[England]] of the bend sinister); of chevronels, ''chevronny''. An unusual example of bendy is one in which a metal alternates with two colours.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Arms of Dr. Murray Lee Eiland Jr |url= http://www.armorialregister.com/arms-za/eiland-ml-arrms.html |website=The Armorial Register - International Register of Arms |access-date=2 September 2024}}</ref>

In modern practice the number of pieces is nearly always even. 
A shield of thirteen vertical stripes, alternating argent and gules, would not be ''paly of thirteen, argent and gules'', but ''argent, six pallets gules''.{{efn|This is the lower portion of the shield on the [[Great Seal of the United States]]. The incorrect blazon is usually used anyway, to preserve the reference to the thirteen original colonies, and this form is occasionally imitated allusively.}}
One unusual design is described in part as ''bendy of three'' though, as each third is again divided, the effect is of a six-part division.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=899&ProjectElementID=3229 |title=Christopher Harrington Jones |website=Canadian Register of Arms, Flags and Badges}}</ref>

If no number of pieces is specified, it may be left up to the heraldic artist, but is still represented with an even number.

An instance of a ''[[fess]]... [[#Barry, Paly, Bendy|paly]] [[Sable (heraldry)|Sable]], Argent, [[Bleu celeste]] and [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]'' occurs in the arms of the 158th Quartermaster Battalion of the [[United States Army]],<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/QM/158QuartermasterBattalion.htm |website=United States Army Institute of Heraldry |title=158 Quartermaster Battalion |access-date=2005-04-01 |archive-date=2006-09-11 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060911011818/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/QM/158QuartermasterBattalion.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> although this is atypical terminology and it could be argued that the fess should be blazoned as ''per pale, in dexter per pale sable and argent, and in sinister per pale bleu celeste and or''.

In the [[:File:Wappen Deutsches Reich - Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.png|modern arms]] of the [[House of Schwarzburg|Count of Schwarzburg]], the quarters are divided by a cross bendy of three tinctures.

When the shield is divided by lines both palewise and bendwise, with the pieces coloured alternately like a chess board, this is ''paly-bendy''; if the diagonal lines are reversed, ''paly-bendy sinister''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/anthonywood.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050315140858/http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/anthonywood.htm |title=The Heraldry Society - members' arms: Anthony Wood |archive-date=March 15, 2005}}</ref> If horizontal rather than vertical lines are used, it is ''barry-bendy''; and similarly, when reversed, ''barry-bendy sinister''.

A field which seems to be composed of a number of triangular pieces is ''barry bendy and bendy sinister''.

=== Chequy ===
[[File:Arms of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey (d.1304).svg|thumb|200px|''Chequy or and azure'', the famous mediaeval arms of [[William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey|de Warenne, Earl of Surrey]], today quartered by the [[Duke of Norfolk]]. Effectively a field ''azure semée of chequers or'' with the first chequer placed in the [[Dexter and sinister|dexter]] chief]]
When divided by palewise and fesswise lines into a [[Check (pattern)|chequered pattern]], the field is ''chequy''. The [[coat of arms of Croatia]] ''Chequy gules and argent'' is a well known example of the red and white chequy.<ref>Carter, David E.; Stephens, Suzanna M. W. ''The Big Book of Logos 5'', Collins Design, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-125574-2}}<br />Stephenson, Keith; Hampshire, Mark. ''Squares, Checks, and Grids, Communicating With Pattern'', RotoVision, 2008, {{ISBN|978-2-940361-82-3}}<br />Busch, Akiko (Editor) ''Design for Sports: The Cult of Performance'', 1st ed., Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, {{ISBN|1-56898-145-7}}</ref> The arms of a Bleichröder, banker to Bismarck,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.heraldica.org/topics/jewish.htm#titled-europe |title=Jewish Heraldry: Other ennobled Jews in Europe |date=June 19, 2008 |first=François |last=Velde |website=heraldica.org |access-date=January 19, 2005 |archive-date=July 2, 1998 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19980702030118/http://www.heraldica.org/topics/jewish.htm#titled-europe |url-status=dead}}</ref> show chequy ''fimbriated'' (the ''chequers'' being divided by thin lines). The arms of the 85th Air Division (Defense) of the [[United States Air Force]] show ''a checky grid'' on part of the field, though this is to be distinguished from ''chequy''.<ref>{{ cite web |url= http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10118 |title=Factsheets: 85 Air Division (Defense) |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121030120148/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10118 |archive-date=2012-10-30 }}</ref> The number of chequers is generally indeterminate, though the fess in the arms of Robert Stewart, Lord of Lorn, they are blazoned as being "of four tracts" (in four horizontal rows);<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.baronage.co.uk/jag-ht/jag013.html |website=Journalists' & Authors' Guide to Heraldry and Titles |title=Differencing a.k.a. Cadency. Chapter Six: The Quarter and the Canton |date=2002 |access-date=2004-01-25 |archive-date=2020-11-29 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201129103848/http://www.baronage.co.uk/jag-ht/jag013.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> and in arms of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], fifteen chequers are specified. The number of vertical rows can also be specified. When a bend or bend sinister, or one of their diminutives, is chequy, the chequers follow the direction of the bend unless otherwise specified. James Parker cites the French term ''equipolle'' to mean chequy of nine, though mentions that this is identical to a ''cross quarter-pierced'' (strangely, this is blazoned as ''a [[Latin square]] chequy of nine'' in the arms of the [[Statistical Society of Canada]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.ssc.ca/main/about/history/arms_e.html |title=Letters Patent Confering the SSC Arms |access-date=2010-02-12 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091217193713/http://www.ssc.ca/main/about/history/arms_e.html |archive-date=2009-12-17 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He also gives the arms of Prospect as an unusual example of chequy, ''Chequy in perspective argent and sable'';<ref>{{harvp|Parker|Gough|1894|p=[https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog/page/n137 104]}}</ref> which must be distinguished from cubes as a charge.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wcsim.co.uk/about/our-coat-arms |title=Our Coat of Arms |website=Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Chequy is not "fanciable"; that is, the lines of chequy cannot be modified by [[Line (heraldry)|lines of partition]].<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.grsampson.net/AHtc.html |title=Historical Trends in Choice of Ordinaries and Charges |first=G. R. |last=Sampson |journal=The Coat of Arms |volume=16 |date=2002 |pages=41–58}}—see footnote 16</ref>

=== Lozengy, fusilly, masculy and rustré ===
{{multiple image
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| footer = '''Left''': ''Lozengy azure and or'' (effectively a field ''azure semée with lozenges or''); '''right''': ''Lozengy or and azure'' (effectively a field ''or semée with lozenges azure'')
}}
When the shield is divided by both bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines, creating a field of lozenges coloured like a chessboard, the result is ''lozengy''.{{efn|Generally lozengy is depicted with the lozenges narrower in width than would be ''bendy bendy-sinister'', which at least in theory would be a different field.}} A field lozengy must be distinguished from an ordinary such as a bend which is blazoned of one tincture and called ''lozengy''; this means that the ordinary is entirely composed of lozenges, touching at their obtuse corners. Such arrangement is better blazoned as ''lozenges bendwise''. {{efn|The [[royal arms of Bavaria]] have occasionally been blazoned as ''lozengy fesswise''; that is, with the narrower axis of the component lozenges vertically rather than horizontally oriented. Similarly, [[Erding (district)|Landkreis Erding]] adopted arms with a chief ''bendy lozengy'',<ref>{{cite web |url= http://flagspot.net/flags/de-by-ed.html |title=Erding County (Germany) |website=Flags of the World}}</ref> and the arms of the Crofts of [[Dalton-in-Furness]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]] are ''Bendy lozengy argent and sable''.<ref>{{harvp| Burke|1884|page=[https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/244 245] }}</ref>}} In ''paly bendy'', the bendwise lines are supposed to be less acute than in plain lozengy.<ref>{{harvp|Parker|Gough|1894|p=[https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog/page/n417 384]}}</ref>

Part of the field of the arms of the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group of the United States Air Force is ''lozengy in perspective''.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Institute of Heraldry, United States Army |title=544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissaince Group |url= http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=11455&CategoryId=6814&grp=1&menu=Uniformed%20Services |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161116212839/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=11455&CategoryId=6814&grp=1&menu=Uniformed%20Services |archive-date=November 16, 2016}}</ref>

A field ''fusilly'' can be very difficult to distinguish from a field lozengy;{{efn|In early days{{when|date=September 2019}} no clear distinction was made between lozenges and fusils}} the fusil is supposed to be proportionately narrower than the lozenge, and the bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines are therefore more steeply sloped.

A field ''masculy'' is composed entirely of [[mascle]]s; that is, lozenges pierced with a lozenge shape – this creates a solid fretwork surface and is to be distinguished from a field ''fretty''.

An extremely rare, possibly unique example of a field ''rustré'' - [[Tincture (heraldry)#Counterchanging and countercolouring|counterchanged]] [[Lozenge (heraldry)|rustres]] - occurs in Canadian heraldry in the arms of R.C. Purdy Chocolates Ltd.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/1019 |website=The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada |title=R.C. Purdy Chocolates Ltd.}}</ref>

=== Gyronny ===
[[File:Campbell arms.svg|thumb|200px|''Gyronny of eight or and sable'', arms of [[Clan Campbell|Campbell]]]]
A shield that is divided quarterly and per saltire, forming eight triangular pieces, is ''gyronny''. This is technically a field covered with ''gyrons'', a rare charge in the form of a [[Wedge (shape)|wedge]], shown individually in the well-known arms of [[Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March|Mortimer]]. Possibly the best-known example is in the arms of the Scottish family of Campbell: ''Gyronny of eight or and sable'', borne most notably by the [[Duke of Argyll]],<ref>Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.75{{full citation needed |date=September 2019}}</ref> Chief of the [[Clan Campbell]]. The first tincture in the blazon is that of the triangle in dexter chief.{{efn|There are apparently very rare examples in which gyronny is of more than two tinctures, such as the arms of Origo of Milan: ''Gyronny, sable, argent, vert, sable, argent, vert, sable, vert''.<ref>{{harvp|Woodward |Burnett|1892|page=86}}</ref>}} Gyronny can also have a different number of pieces than eight; for example, Sir William Stokker, Lord Mayor of London, had a field gyronny of six; there may be gyronny of ten or twelve, and the arms of Clackson provide an example of ''gyronny of sixteen''.{{efn|There cannot be gyronny of four, as that would be either per saltire or quarterly; or three, as that would be tierced in pairle or tierced in pairle reversed.}} While the gyrons of gyronny almost invariably meet in the fess point, the exact centre of the shield, the arms of the [[University of Zululand]] are an unusual example of gyronny meeting in the nombril point, a point on the shield midway between the fess point and the base point.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://geocities.com/bona_spes/uni/UZ.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091027143125/http://geocities.com/bona_spes/uni/UZ.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-10-27 |website=Armoria academica |title=Armoria academica - University of Zululand}}</ref> Gyronny can be modified by most of the lines of partition,<ref>{{cite web |title=Members' Roll of Arms: Phillips, David |website=theheraldrysociety.com |url= https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/members-arms/phillips-david/}}</ref> with exceptions such as dancetty and angled{{why|date=September 2019}}.
The [[canting arms]] of Maugiron show ''gyronny of six'', clearly deemed ''mal-gironné'' ('badly gyronny').{{cn|date=May 2025}}

=== Variations of lines ===
Any of the division lines composing the variations of the field above may be blazoned with most of the different [[Line (heraldry)|line]] shapes; e.g. ''paly [[nebuly]] of six, or and sable''. One very common use of this is ''barry wavy azure and argent''; this is often used to represent either [[water]] or a body of water in general, or the sea in particular, though there are other if less commonly used methods of representing the sea, including in a more naturalistic manner.