Heart symbol

Peepal leaves were used in artistic depictions by the Indus Valley civilisation: a heart-shaped pendant originating from there has been discovered and is now exhibited in the National Museum of India.

[3][4] Silver coins from Cyrene of the 5th–6th century BC bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant and is understood to represent its seed or fruit.

The heart here resembles a pine cone (held "upside down", the point facing upward), in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions.

[12] Giotto in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua) shows an allegory of charity (caritas) handing her heart to Jesus Christ.

Giotto's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters, and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce, by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Florence Baptistery (c. 1337), by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena (c. 1340) and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence (c. 1365).

[16] Such theories are modern, proposed from the 1960s onward, and they remain speculative, as no continuity between the supposed ancient predecessors and the late medieval tradition can be shown.

[18] Heart shapes can be seen on various stucco reliefs and wall panels excavated from the ruins of Ctesiphon, the Persian capital (c. 90 BC – 637 AD).

Luther wrote an explanation of the symbol to Lazarus Spengler: "a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us.

In homes a heart symbol made from red painted plywood, or a stuffed fabric one, is often used to assist visitors in finding the modern facility.

Early heraldic heart-shaped charges depicting the leaves of water-lilies are found in various other designs related to territories close to rivers or a coastline (e.g. Flags of Frisia).

Inverted heart symbols have been used in heraldry as stylized testicles (coglioni in Italian) as in the canting arms of the Colleoni family of Milan.

There has been some conjecture regarding the link between the traditional heart symbol and images of the fruit of silphium, a (probably) extinct plant known to classical antiquity and belonging to the genus Ferula, used as a condiment and medicine, (the medicinal properties including contraceptive and abortifacient activity, linking the plant to sexuality and love).

A heart symbol from the Achaemenid period, in the Louvre Museum, made of ivory [ 19 ]
A sasanian-style textile from first century AH that shows two winged horses [ 20 ] [ 21 ] with one heart symbol on top of them [ 22 ]
Coat of arms of the Principality of Lüneburg , originating with William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg (d. 1213) who married Helena , daughter of Valdemar I of Denmark , and therefore adopted the "Danish tincture" to the arms of his father, Henry the Lion [ 31 ]
A heart pictured in the coat of arms of the Laukaa municipality