Silbereisen: Chronicon Helvetiae, Part I
A Swiss chronicle manuscript of 1576, the Chronicon Helvetiae by Silbereisen, compiled as a historical record of Swiss noble families and their arms. The pages are hand-painted heraldic charts of shields with names and titles written in ink beside each one. A designer could take from them the arrangement of shields in a tidy grid, the flat bold palette of red, blue, gold and black, and the simple charges such as lilies, birds, bears and diamonds.
