Fig. 23. Armorial panels, the middlemost with the arms, supporters, and badges of King Edward IV, from the George Inn at Glastonbury.
In monumental effigies the shield borne by a knight often has a convex or rounded surface (fig. [24]), and in late fifteenth century and Tudor architecture otherwise flat shields sometimes have the middle swelled out, as on dean Gunthorpe's oriel at Wells, in a manner very popular in Renaissance work. (See figs. [111] and [195].)
Fig. 24. Shield with curved surface, from an effigy of a Pembridge at Clehonger, Herefordshire.
A reference to a number of good ancient examples of heraldic shields or banners will disclose the care that has been taken to occupy the field, as far as possible, with whatever is placed upon it (figs. [25], [26], [27]). A lion or an eagle, for instance, will have the limbs and extremities so spread out as to fill every available space; and the same will be found in every group or combination of objects capable of arrangement or extension.