Compartment (heraldry) Compartment (heraldry) In heraldry, a compartment is a design placed under the shield, usually rocks, a grassy mount ("mount vert"), or some sort of other landscape upon which the supporters are depicted as standing. Care must be taken to distinguish true compartments from items upon which supporters are merely resting one or more feet, or, sometimes, mere heraldic badges or pure decoration under the shield, and, conversely, care must also be taken in very unusual cases such as the coat of arms of Belize, in which what may be taken to be a crest, the mahogany tree rising above the
Tincture (heraldry) that is neither metal nor colour. Over time, several variations of ermine and vair have appeared, together with three additional furs typically encountered in continental heraldry, known as "plumeté", "papelonné", and "kürsch", the origins of which are more mysterious, but which probably began as variations of vair. Ermine is normally depicted as a white field powdered with black spots, known as "ermine spots", representing the ermine's black tail. The use of white instead of silver is normal, even when silver is available, since this is how the fur naturally appears; but occasionally silver is used to depict ermine. Traditionally, ermine