Hand-crafted original
Azure Fleur-de-Lis Shield
Commissioned by a photographer, the Azure Fleur-de-Lis Shield sets three golden lilies against a deep azure field. Bound in iron and painted straight onto bare linen, it was made to hold up under the lens: an object that reads as real and used at close range, not a polished stage prop.
Built from two-layer birch plywood and shaped to a deep 10 cm curve, this shield is faced in linen and hand-painted in acrylic. The azure field is laid directly onto the cloth, without gesso, so the weave of the linen stays visible through the paint, and the three fleurs-de-lis are picked out in gold. The rim is bound in iron strip, nailed through to the core. The reverse is lined in red linen and fitted with a broad leather arm pad carrying two crossed enarmes, each fixed through square metal washers. There is no guige: the shield is carried on the arm alone. Every detail is executed without compromise for speed of production.
The fleur-de-lis is a stylised lily, three petals bound at the waist by a single band. In medieval imagery the lily stood for purity and was closely tied to the Virgin Mary, and as a heraldic charge it became best known through the arms of the kings of France. Here three golden lilies are set two above one on an azure field, a composition so clean that it can be read at a glance across a field, or across a photograph.
Such a device suits someone who values order and composure over menace. There is no beast on this field, no bared claw or open jaw: only a calm, measured symmetry of gold on blue. It is a mark for one who would rather be recognised for steadiness and grace than feared for force.
Faced in bare linen, bound in iron, and painted for the camera as much as for the hand, the Azure Fleur-de-Lis Shield was built to look true at the closest range. It is a piece for those who know that an image is only as honest as the object in front of the lens.
