The Coat of Arms

The crest at the entrance on Via della Scala, reproduced on every product, is the coat of arms of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella. It has appeared on labels and packaging since the Officina's earliest commercial period, and takes the form of a crowned shield.

The canonical arms of the Dominican Order, in their standard blazon, are gyronny of eight in sable and argent with a cross flory counterchanged, a geometric composition entirely distinct from the Santa Maria Novella form. Dominican heraldry was never fixed by regulation and varied by convent, period and printer; the Santa Maria Novella crest is a specific Florentine form, identified above all by its radiant sun.

The shield is divided into two halves, echoing the black and white of the Dominican habit: the black of the cloak, the white of the tunic beneath. Within the order the two colours carried symbolic readings, day and night, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance.

The upper black half bears a star. In Dominican iconography the star represents the birth of San Domenico, founder of the order, a light that illuminates the mind, and it appears consistently across every version of the crest. The lower white half, in Florentine versions, bears a sun, which carries two readings at once: the face of Christ in Dominican theology, and the heraldic emblem of the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. In versions made for non-Florentine contexts, the sun is sometimes replaced by a dog, the Domini canes, or hounds of God, a longstanding Dominican symbol.

The same crest appears on every product sold today.