The Solothurn coat of arms of the weavers' guild

Diameter: 97 cm.
Diameter incl. framing: 107 cm.
Oil on wood, framed behind glass.
Solothurn, 18th century.

Only a few panels like this have survived. In the then free and imperial cities of Ravensburg, Solothurn, Augsburg, Kempten im Allgäu, Füssen and Memmingen, coat of arms panels with a guild reference were created, of which only 46 can be documented with the panel offered here. The Hupis-Quartier Museum in Ravensburg holds 24 panels, the Blumenstein Museum in Solothurn 10, the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg 7, the Memmingen City Museum 2, the Museum of the City of Füssen and the Allgäu Museum in Kempten 2. These coat of arms panels cover a period from 1347-1840, with our coat of arms panels beginning with the year 1751 and ending with the year 1795. In the center is Saint Blasius of Sebaste (Rhaeto-Romanic San Plasch, died 316) with his attribute of the harrow. The visual resemblance of the harrow to a hackle comb explains its interpretation as the patron saint of weavers. Three concentric circles with heraldic shields in a semicircular shape without upper coat of arms and with a white-grounded field above are arranged around the central image field, which is lined with a laurel wreath. The first coat of arms ring contains 22 coats of arms, the second coat of arms ring 32 shields, of which 25 are filled and 7 are vacant. The outer ring shows 41 vacant shields in waiting. The filled escutcheons bear the year of death of the person named above the coat of arms in black letters. Of these people, the following have been identified so far: Johann Georg Sebastian Wysswald (1678-1752), Stephan Jakob Wysswald (1706-1775), Josef Ludwig Anton Schwaller (1690-1752), Urs Josef Bonaventura Bass (1717-1753), Peter Josef Bass (1716-1753), Urs Josef Bass (1714-1757), Peter Blasius von Staal (1740-1783), Franz Leopold Tschann (1711-1791), Urs Peter Josef von Roll (1720-1764).

Literature:
Cf. on the coat of arms panels: Jens Kremb, Die runden Wappentafeln der Zünfte, in: Heraldica Nova: Medieval and Early Modern Heraldry from the Perspective of Cultural History 4.5.2016. (1400143) (13)



Solothurn coat of arms of weaver's guild

Diameter: 97 cm.
Diameter incl. frame: 107 cm.
Oil on panel, framed with glass.
Solothurn in Switzerland, 18th century.

Literature regarding the coat of arms:
cf. Jens Kremb, Die runden Wappentafeln der Zünfte, in: Heraldica Nova: Medieval and Early Modern Heraldry from the Perspective of Cultural History, 4 May 2016.