)
The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck (1434); the woman wears a dress trimmed with miniver
- For the fictional character, see Mrs. Miniver.
Miniver, an unspotted white fur edged with grey, derives from the winter coat of the Northern red squirrel. Miniver differs from ermine fur in that it does not include the distinctive black tails of the stoat but is formed of distinctive grey edged panels cut from the complete fur and framing the white belly. From a red squirrel, which has a greyish-white winter coat with a white underside, miniver gros, or vair, is the whole fur, including the grey, and miniver pure retains only the white part. The heraldic fur, vair, translates the grey into blue, and alternates back and belly.[1][2][3]
References
- ^ Cumming, Valerie; Cunnington, C. W.; Cunnington, P. E. (1 September 2010). The Dictionary of Fashion History. Berg. ISBN 9781847887382 – via Google Books.
- ^ "University of Manchester, Lexis of Cloth & Clothing Project, Search Result For: 'miniver'". lexissearch.arts.manchester.ac.uk.
- ^ R. Delort, Le commerce des fourrures en occident à la fin du moyen-âge, Rome, 1978.