Cartouche
The cartouche — literally a "roll of paper" rendered permanent in stone — is the carved frame that holds a facade's inscriptions, arms, and epitaphs.
Architecture
Caryatid
A sculpted female figure used as an architectural support in place of a column or pier, often carrying an entablature on her head.
Chasse
The chasse — a house-shaped reliquary shrine — miniaturizes church architecture in gold and enamel, most famously in Cologne's Shrine of the Three Kings.
Crepidoma
The crepidoma — the Greek temple's stepped platform, rising from stereobate to stylobate — is the direct architectural ancestor of every classical statue base and pedestal.
Aesthetic Canon
A recognized system of ideal proportions or formal rules used to guide the representation of the human body, architecture, or another class of forms.
Dalle
French for a slab or flag of stone.
Akroteria
Sculptural or architectural ornaments placed on the apex and outer corners of a classical pediment.
Amortissement
A crowning or terminating ornament placed at the top of an architectural or sculptural composition.
Architectural Terms
The specialized vocabulary used to identify and describe the structural, proportional, and ornamental parts of architecture.
Architrave
The lowest horizontal member of the classical entablature, resting directly on the capitals of columns.