Wednesday 19 December 2012

Coat of Arms of Brazil

This is not about flags as such but a flag related item, coats of arms.
My friend from the Flags Forum  Leonardo Piccioni has created a forum in the Heraldry section concerning the coat of arms of his native Brazil. The current 'coat of arms' for Brazil is below:
This is the Republic's emblem, used since 1889, but Leonardo's concerns are it isn't a coat of arms properly: it hasn't even a shield. It contains the Southern Cross, a national emblem, and a star to each state, over a star gironny in vert ("sinople" in original text) and or, bordered in red. The supporters are a coffee branch and a tobacco branch, and have been used on various historic coats of arms for Brazil.
To see the discussion on the flags forum and historic Brazilian coats of arms click Here.
To read more on the coat of arms past and present click here
Leonardo's proposal is below:
brasil-coat-of-arms.png
Designed by Leonardo Piccioni
This design keeps the supporters and places the central design of the present arms in a heraldic shield thus making it a 'proper' coat of arms. 

I also believe that as Brazil is such a large country and a top world stage player, and because it is hosting important spots events like the next football World Cup and Olympics the country deserves a 'proper' coat of arms.
My idea was to base the coat of arms on the badge of the Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) which is worn by the world famous Brazil international football team:
I don't know what significance if any it has, and Leonardo doesn't know either and suspects that it has evolved to its current form over time from a operate logo. See Here.
All the same I think it would be a good idea to use it as it is recognisable not only in Brazil but world wide thanks to the exploits of Brazil's footballers.
My first idea is below:
It has the shield design from the CBF and all the stars for the states. The Supporters are the same. There is also a crest which is a mullet gironny of ten vert, southern cross and olive crown (a republican symbol)
Leonardo suggested the use of 21 stars (the number of state when Brazil became a republic) as its easier
 to work with and is the number of stars on the Brazil Naval Jack. He also suggested the removal of the southern cross and olive crown, which I agree with.
brasil-coat-of-arms1.png
improved design by Leonardo Piccioni
I also suggest the use of Parrot supporters (I originally wanted to use the national bird of Brazil Sabiá-laranjeira, or the Rufous-bellied Thrush but this was beyond my skills) I also suggested using a motto and including the Southern Cross, or armillary sphere design from the flag and use the old supporters on this. I sort of coat of arms within a coat of arms:
The motto translates to 'Order and Progress' and 16 November 1889 (the date Brazil became a republic). The countries full title is also present 'Federal Republic of Brazil' 
I also made another version with the floral supporters being the main supporters and the armillary sphere, if pre fared:
These two would be my favourite. 
All Comment mine.

All proposals by Samuel McKittrick unless stated otherwise. 







4 comments:

  1. Hy,
    The original is better but there were twelve projects to change the tobbaco for another plant ( sugar cane, brazilwood, soybean, corn etc)
    Coffe and tobacco are vicious ( maybe thats the reason)

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    1. Hi, thanks for commenting, since I posted this, Leonardo has improved his design and its well worth a look. Heres the address
      http://create-recreate.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/brazil-coat-of-arms.html

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