The crest of the chief of Irvine is a sheaf of holly leaves, bound by a red ribbon. At its core this crest is ‘canting’, meaning it’s a visual pun on the ‘vine’ in the name. That the leaves are bound together represents the various branches of the family held together under the chiefs. Although the chiefs could have chosen other native vines, such as ivy, holly has sharp edges, creating a statement that the Irvines are tough and know how to defend themselves.

The holly leaves appear on the shield of the seal of Alexander Irvine of Belteis in 1484, and for Alexander Irvine of Drum in 1616 (Willam Rae MacDonald, Scottish Armorial Seals, 1904, 179-80). Lindsay of the Mount’s Armorial of 1599 and the Balfour Manuscript of about 1633 show three holly leaves as the Irvine shield. Sometime between 1672 and 1678 the laird of Drum registered his crest as specifically nine holly leaves with the motto (R.R. Stoddart, Scottish Arms being a Collection of Armorial Bearings 1370-1678, p.377)

The motto is ‘sub sole sub umbra virens’ (flourishing both in sunshine and in shade). This Latin phrase seems to have originated in Jacobus Typotius (1540–1601)’s Symbola divina et humana of 1601.  In this he includes

SVB SOLE SVB VMBRA VIRENS.

E navali erumpit navis: folent enim navigia in navalia hyeme subduci; & fucclamatur Rex, sub Sole, id est, in alto, & sub umbra, id est, tecto: sed quid clara obscura? virens: id est non situ putrens aut dilabens vetustate, ne incautam, clamat, liceat, ut navis, fortunæ fluctibus jactetur, nec adversis frangi, nec prosperis extolli, sed patientem quietis esse juxta ac laboris, si per hostem liceat.

FLOURISHING BOTH IN SUN AND IN SHADE.

A ship comes forth from the dockyard: for ships are customarily drawn up into dock in winter; and the King is proclaimed both under the sun, that is, in the open, and under shade, that is, under shelter. But what do these bright and dark things mean? “Flourishing”: that is, not rotting from neglect nor falling apart from age. He proclaims that one must not allow oneself to be tossed about like a ship by the waves of fortune, nor broken by adversity, nor lifted up by prosperity, but rather to remain patient in calm as well as in toil, if the enemy allows.

The ship is the emblem, a ship survives whether in the open sea (sun) or in the dock (shade). So should a king (or any virtuous person) remain steady.

  • not corrupted by ease,
  • not destroyed by hardship,
  • not exalted by success,
  • not crushed by misfortune.

It is a lesson in Stoic constancy and royal self-control — a very typical theme for 16th–17th-century political emblem literature. Although Typotius used this emblem as a seafaring metaphor, the Irvines of Drum adopted it as a reference for the hardiness of the holly in growing in both sun and shade. Again, this speaks to the hardiness of the family. 


MKP 15 January 2026