Illustrated Architecture Dictionary ......................... Illustrated Furniture Glossary

Anthemion
an THEE mee on
Plural: anthemia
Alternate name: Honeysuckle ornament


Parthenon: Elgin marble cast

Corinth, Greece
Lotus (shorter) and palmette with bottom volutes

Buffalo Savings Bank / M&T Bank Branch
Lotus (shorter) and palmette with bottom volutes

Floral design, used esp in ancient Greek and Roman architecture and decoration, usually consisting of honeysuckle, lotus, or palmette leaf  between two volutes.

Used singly on antefixes (ornamental blocks concealing tile-ends at the edges of a roof), or as a running ornament on friezes

Egyptian origins: A lotus-and-palmette design with acanthus leaves added. Bottom scrolls sometimes connected the foliage.

Greek: "anthemion" - a flower

One type of ancient Greek palmette resembles honeysuckle flowers, another is more like a palm leaf. Both were used in bands of anthemion ornament.

Anthemion, design consisting of a number of radiating petals, developed by the ancient Greeks from the Egyptian and Asiatic form known as the honeysuckle or lotus palmette.

The Greeks originally decorated only pottery with the motif, but they soon adapted it to ornament architecture. The single-palmette form appears on acroteria (decorative pedestals), antefixes (roof or cornice elements), and the top of vertical stelae.

The continuous pattern of alternating lotus and palmette springing from connecting spirals decorates especially the cyma recta molding of the cornice.

Found in classical Greek and Roman architecture and derivatives, including Beaux Arts Classicism, , ..... Classical Revival, , ..... Federal, Georgian Revival,, ..... Greek Revival,, ..... Neoclassicism,, ..... Renaissance Revival,, ..... Second Empire

Examples from Buffalo architecture:

Other examples:

Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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