Basically, each emblem identifies the holder of a particular offices by the devices, type of shield and the colours used. There are, for example, about fifty different devices known, including animals (eagle, horse, lion, etc); signs of the office (bow, cup, sword, etc), as well as more obscure geometrical and abstract shapes (bar, crescent, diamond, etc). Different combinations of these devices were sometimes placed on grounds known as shields, which varied in shape (round, ovoid, square etc). These shields were often divided into two or three separate fields.
See also: appliqué Mamluk emblem; leather Mamluk emblem
Source: BIERMAN, Irene B. (1998), 'Art and architecture in the medieval period,' in: Carl F. PETRY (ed.), The Cambridge History of Egypt, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 372-373.
Digital source of illustration (retrieved 5 June 2016).
GVE