A fleuron is a flower-shaped ornament,[1] and in architecture may have a number of meanings:
- It is a collective noun for the ornamental termination at the ridge of a roof, such as a crop, finial or épi.
- 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.
- It can be the ornament in the middle of each concave face of a Corinthian abacus.
- Finally, it can be a form of anthemion, a Greek floral ornament.[2]
Ancient Greek fleuron as an
anthemion (Greek word for flower),
c. 350–325 BC, marble,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Ancient Greek Corinthian capital with a fleuron on the
abacus, from the
tholos at
Epidaurus, said to have been designed by
Polyclitus the Younger,
c.350 BC, stone,
Archaeological Museum of Epidaurus, Greece
[3]
Ancient Greek fleuron as an
anthemion on a mirror with cover, bronze,
c.340 BC, bronze,
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Roman Corinthian capital with a fleuron on the abacus of the
Baths at Ostia,
Ostia Antica, near modern
Ostia, southwest of Rome, unknown architect, unknown date
Roman Corinthian capital of the
Temple of Vesta,
Tivoli, Italy, with an oversized fleuron on the abacus, probably a stylized hibiscus blossom with spiral
pistil, unknown architect, 1st century BC
Gothic fleuron with a square section of a tier of four leaves or petals developing around a prominent central bud, early 13th century, illustration from the
Dictionary of French architecture from the 11th to the 16th century by
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Gothic fleuron with two rays of foliage, mid-13th century, illustration from the Dictionary of French architecture from the 11th to the 16th century
Gothic fleuron, 13th century, illustration from the Dictionary of French architecture from the 11th to the 16th century
Gothic fleuron with stripped of foliage, 15th century, illustration from the Dictionary of French architecture from the 11th to the 16th century
Gothic fleurons on a crown of the Virgin,
c.1390-1395, terracotta with paint, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gothic fleurons in the
Chapelle de Condat,
Libourne, unknown architect, probably the 15th century and restored in the 1860s
Neoclassical fleuron on the capital of a Corinthian
pilaster of the
Fontaines du Théâtre-Français, Paris, designed by
Gabriel Davioud and sculpted by
François Théophile Murgey,
[4] 1867-1874
Gothic Revival reinterpretation of a fleuron on the
College of Saint Teresa-Ganduxer,
Barcelona,
Spain, by
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet and Joan Baptista Pons i Trabal, 1887-1889
Oversized Neoclassical fleurons on the
Romanian Atheneum,
Bucharest,
Romania, inspired by those of the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, by
Paul Louis Albert Galeron, 1888
Gothic Revival fleuron in the
George Severeanu Museum, Bucharest, unknown architect,
c.1900
Gothic Revival fleurons on the Grave of the Alexandru Costescu Family in the
Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest, unknown architect,
c.1900
Typography fleurons
"Fleuron" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
Hugh Honour, John Fleming (2009). A World History of Art - Revised Seventh Edition. Laurence King Publishing. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-85669-584-8.