Spur (architecture)
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In architecture, a spur (French Script error: No such module "Lang"., German Script error: No such module "Lang".) is the ornament carved on the angles of the base of early columns.Template:Sfn
Ornament
A spur consists of a projecting claw, which, emerging from the lower torus of the base, rests on the projecting angle of the square plinth.Template:Sfn
Ancient Roman architecture
It is possibly to these that Pliny refers (Hist. Nat. XXVI. 42) when speaking of the lizard and frog carved on the bases (spirae) of the columns of the temples of Jupiter and Juno in the Portico of Octavius; the earliest known example is that of Diocletian's Palace at Split.Template:Sfn
In Romanesque work the oldest examples are those found on the bases in crypts, where they assumed various conventional forms; being, however, close to the eye, the spur soon developed into an elaborate leaf ornament, which in French 13th-century work and in the early English period is of great beauty; sometimes the spur takes the form of a fabulous animal, such as a griffin.Template:Sfn
See also
Notes
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
