Thomas Hunter’s Arms of The Incorporations of 1758

The workmanship of this scissor-cut work of art is remarkable. Using only a sheet of paper, scissors, a pencil and watercolour, Thomas Hunter was able to create amazingly intricate coats of arms of the fourteen trades of Edinburgh and the arms of the Society of Barbers.

He also depicts the arms of the City of Edinburgh. The arms of the Bonnetmakers & Dyers are bottom right.

Thomas Hunter was a Deacon of the Incorporation of Tailors and a Governor of the Trades Maiden Hospital. This hospital was founded on the east side of Argyll Square, Edinburgh in 1704 by the charitable Mary Erskine and was intended “for the daughters of decayed tradesmen.”

This detail in this work is very intricate and this picture doesn’t really do it justice.