Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art
By John Vinycomb
Fictitious Creatures of the Sea- The Sea-Dog
Sea-dog is depicted like a talbot in shape, but with the tail like that of a beaver, the feet webbed and the whole body scaled like a fish, a scalloped fin continued along the hack from the head to the tail.
Baron Stourton has two such beasts, sable, scaled or, for his supporters.
The crest of Sir H. Delves Broughton.—A sea-dog's head gules, eared and finned argent.
The Sea-bull, Sea-wolf,
Sea-bear, Sea-cat, Sea-dragon, etc., when they occur in heraldry, are all depicted as having the anterior portions of their bodies in the forms which their several names denote; but, like the sea-lion and sea-horse, they have fishes tails and webbed paws.
________
In conclusion, having, as far as possible, given the raison d’être of each, and traced the life-history and characteristics of the many strange and fantastic creatures in our symbolic menagerie, it only remains to express the hope that the information contained in this volume may be found both interesting and useful, as without some such knowledge there can be little or no intelligent understanding of the proper treatment of the forms of these mythical and symbolic beings. The suggestive illustrations, while giving the recognised forms of each, leaves to the artist free scope to adopt his own style of art treatment, whether purely heraldic or merely decorative.
