Fleuron (architecture)

A fleuron is a flower-shaped ornament,[1] and in architecture may have a number of meanings:

1. It is a collective noun for the ornamental termination at the ridge of a roof, such as a crop, finial or épi.
2. It is also a form of stylised Late Gothic decoration in the form of a four-leafed square, often seen on crockets and cavetto mouldings.
3. It can be the ornament in the middle of each concave face of a Corinthian abacus.
4. Finally, it can be a form of anthemion, the decorative Greek floral decoration.[2]

Gallery

• 
  Fleuron at Hôtel de ville de Bruxelles, Belgium
• 
  Fleuron as a finial
• 
  Fleuron is the uppermost flower decoration in the center of a Corinthian capital
• 
  Fleuron in a cornice molding
• 
  Fleuron as a anthemion (Greek word for flower)
• 
  Fleuron above a doorway

See also

• Flamboyant

References

1. "Fleuron" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
2. Curl, James Stevens (2006). A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 880 pages. ISBN 0-19-860678-8.