Genesis

The etymology of SINOPLE refers to the port of Sinope in Paphlagonia – present-day Turkey – which gave “sinopia”, a red pigment used since Antiquity to sketch frescoes or paintings on wood.

In his “Elementary Treaty of Mineralogy with applications to the Arts”, Alexandre Brongniart, then director of the Manufacture impériale de Porcelaine de Sèvres, uses this same shade of red,”blood red”, to qualify the sinople as a rusty quartz. He describes it as either being crystallized in prisms with six-sided pyramidal ends and originating from South of France or Spain, or called Hyacinthe de Compostelle in reference to the pilgrims who collected them as a testimony of their route, sometimes massively present in primitive mountains, hence sometimes penetrated with gold.

In the middle of the 14th century, specifically in France and for no known reason, the term’s use and meaning changed. Under the influence of heraldry, a field of both artistic and identitary expression, this mineral red turned into a green enamel. On coats of arms and in a monochrome version, it is characterized by parallel diagonal lines that run “from the head to the tip of the
shield, dextral to sinister”.

Orchestrated by Violaine & Jérémy, the composition of SINOPLE weapons is inspired by heraldry, alchemy and associates many symbols. They embody the 4 elements: water, earth, air and fire. They also refer to the 4 kingdoms: mineral, plant, animal and human.