Continuing our heraldic tour of Glasgow, Scotland (and, not wanting to bore you with a surfeit, there's a lot that I'm not including in these posts), we come once again to one of my frustrations as a heraldry enthusiast: empty shields and cartouches.
There's a lot of heraldry to be found in Glasgow. Sadly, there's also a lot of non-heraldry to be found there, as well. Blank shields can be found all over the central parts of the City. Which is a bit of a shame, really, since some of them were ornately carved and otherwise decorated. It's like having a really nice picture frame, but not mounting a picture or painting in it. So, as I have before, I found myself wishing I had a ladder and cans of paint, so I could sneak out late at night and paint coats of arms on some of these shields. But, no ladder, no paint, and no desire to be arrested for vandalism, so I didn't. Thus I leave you with the following selection of (still empty) shields:
See what I mean? Lavishly decorated, surrounded by ornate, detailed carving. Blank shield.
