The background of the shield is called the field. The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures (colours or metals) or furs. The field may be divided or may consist of a variegated pattern. In rare cases, the field (or a subdivision thereof) is not a tincture, but may be a landscape. Landscape fields are regarded by many heralds as unheraldic and deprecated, as they defy the heraldic ideal of simple, boldly coloured images and cannot be consistently drawn from blazon.