Orange is a colour that is rarely found in heraldry.
The origins of the colour orange in heraldry remain a mystery, as initially the only colour known for painting was red – a unmixed, pure, mineral-based colour derived from cinnabar or red lead. However, depending on which dye plant was used, the red took on a different hue. These could include: woodruff (for a dusky pink), madder (the plant Rubia tinctorum, also known as dyer’s red or dyer’s madder, for a medium red, light red or wine red), as well as purple-red and carmine red. Cherry tree bark, sorrel seeds, beard lichen (for an orange), buckthorn, hibiscus blossoms, blueberries, blackcurrants, cranberries and sandalwood (for a pink) were also used. Red, as we know it today, could not yet be produced or used as a dye.
The differences in colour between painted pigments and dyes derived from plants or animals are particularly striking in the case of red. It becomes clear that, before the age of industrialisation – with its chemical possibilities – it was virtually impossible to achieve any kind of standard, and it is easy to understand why so many different shades of red emerged.
Ultimately, orange will have carved out a niche for itself as a deliberately chosen colour. Nevertheless, orange is quite rare. Its most famous appearance on a coat of arms is that of the House of Nassau, which has thus become the Dutch people’s favourite colour.
In black-and-white depictions of coats of arms or three-dimensional representations of coats of arms carved in stone, orange is depicted as a combination of red and gold, namely as fine vertical lines and fine small dots, arranged in vertical lines of dashes and dots. Orange is not associated with any planet or gemstone. It is regarded as a noble colour.
In colour psychology, orange is said to have a stimulating and energising effect. It is also associated with conspicuousness, cheerfulness, intrusiveness and artificiality.
