Meaning & Analysis
In the formal rules of heraldry, placing a metal (gold or silver) directly onto another metal is considered a violation of the 'rule of tincture' because it creates poor visual contrast, making the design on a coat of arms difficult to decipher from a distance.
Insights
Redundancy and Poor Taste
The proverb serves as a condemnation of redundancy and tasteless excess. It suggests that piling similar things together—such as wealth upon the wealthy or praise upon the famous—is an improper and meaningless combination that lacks aesthetic or moral value.
Violation of Convention
It functions as a metaphor for violating established social or aesthetic conventions. To put 'metal upon metal' is to commit a known error, implying an action that is inappropriate, gauche, or demonstrates a lack of understanding of the proper order of things.
Unproductive Effort
The proverb highlights unproductive or misapplied effort. Just as creating 'false heraldry' is a wasted design effort, actions like giving to those who have no need are ultimately pointless and create no meaningful impact or benefit.
Heraldic Origins
The proverb originates from the 'rule of tincture' in heraldry, a medieval system of visual identification. This rule, forbidding metal on metal or color on color, ensured that coats of arms were easily distinguishable in battle. The proverb's survival demonstrates how a technical rule from a specialized, aristocratic field became a broader metaphor for social and aesthetic judgment.
Critique of Inequality
As the 1666 quotation from Torriano explicitly states, the proverb was used as social commentary against giving more to the already wealthy. This application transforms an aesthetic principle into a moral one, critiquing actions that are redundant and fail to provide meaningful contrast or benefit, thus resonating with timeless concerns about social and economic inequality.
Psychology of Contrast
Psychologically, the proverb taps into the fundamental human need for contrast and clarity. Just as the eye struggles to distinguish silver on gold, the mind struggles to find value in redundant actions. It speaks to a cognitive preference for efficiency and impact, suggesting that actions, like designs, are judged by their discernible effect.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The entire proverb functions as a metaphor, applying a specific technical rule from heraldry to broader principles of social conduct, aesthetics, and morality.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'm' sound in 'Metal upon metal' creates a memorable, rhythmic quality that enhances its proverbial force.
Appeal to Authority
By using the specialized term 'heraldry', the proverb frames its judgment with an air of authority and technical precision, as if delivering an expert, unarguable verdict.
Transcription
Quotations
(Metal on).
What? Doth he allege himself to prove his own opinion? My bad heraldry was neuer guilty of such a fault.—metal upon metal!
To give unto them who have enough, and too much already, as the English say, metal upon metal is false Heraldry.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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