In Scottish Heraldry, the shield of arms is sometimes held up by "Supporters", or in old Scots patents, "bearers", a distinction reserved for peers of the realm, knights grand cross and some clan chiefs. Lyon occasionally uses his prerogative to grant them to other very distinguished persons.
In French heraldry, however, although supporters are even rarer than in Scottish heraldry, they distinguish "tenants" when the supporters are humans (or angels), "supports", which are animals or mythical beasts, and soutiens which would be inanimate objects like trees. So we will follow these distinctions and have a week of tenants, a week of supports and finally a week of soutiens as "Supporters of the Day" to show something of the range of artworks in the PRAABS.
Supporters (tenants) of the Day: The Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Gloriously painted in 1900 by Herald Painter, Graham Johnston.
"Two savages wreathed about the middle with oak Proper, the one on the dexter holding in his exterior hand a covered cup Or and that on the sinister a sprig of rue Vert."
