Frieze

In architecture the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain or — in the Ionic or Corinthian order — decorated with bas-reliefs. In an astylar wall it lies upon the architrave ('main beam') and is capped by the moldings of the cornice.

In interiors, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the picture rail and under the crown moldings or cornice. By extension, a frieze is a long band of painted, sculpted or even calligraphic decoration in such a position, above eye-level. Frieze decorations may depict scenes in a sequence of discrete panels. The material of which the frieze is made may be plasterwork, carved wood or other decorative medium.

In an example of an architectural frieze on the facade of a building, the octagonal Tower of the Winds in the Roman agora at Athens bears relief sculptures of the eight winds on its frieze.

A pulvinated frieze (or pulvino) is convex in section. Such friezes were features of 16th-century Northern Mannerism, especially in subsidiary friezes, and much employed in interior architecture and in furniture.

This concept has been generalized in the mathematical construction of Frieze patterns.

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Last updated on Thursday February 21, 2008 at 09:30:22 PST (GMT -0800)
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