Illustrated Architecture Dictionary ....................................

Illustrated FURNITURE
Glossary
Fret
Alternate name in architecture: key pattern
Alternate name in furniture: Chinese key



Architecture
An ornamental design consisting of repeated and symmetrical figures, often in relief, contained
within a band or border
Old French: "fret" = grating
Some historians feel that the Greek key (illustrated above) has its basis in the Greek myth of the
labyrinth that imprisoned the minotaur.
A meander is a running ornament consisting of a fret design with many involved turnings and an
intricate variety of designs
A type of running ornament

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
Spiral, Meander, Key Pattern, Maze
The spiral is a universal element in all decoration, in primitive as well as in the most
sophisticated art. The running spiral (also known as running dog,wave scroll or
Vitruvian scroll) and the meander (also known as Greek fret, Greek key, labyrinth,
maze, key pattern) are curved and angular variations of the same motif.
Other figures, for example the four-strand spiral and the swastika, are similarly related.

Spiral and meander motifs, and their intermediate forms, have a long history in the
Mediterranean....
Meanders and key patterns are today closely associated with Greek art and
architecture. In the formalized Orders of architecture the meander motif was assigned
to flat vertical surfaces. In the eighteenth-century European revival of interest in
classical Greece as a source of ornament, it was the in the meander and key patterns
which, above all others, signified Greek style and taste.
It is generally accepted that the name of the motif [meander] refers to the winding river
Meander in Anatolia, Turkey... The connection with water perhaps persists in Roman
times, when the motif is frequently used on mosaic floors in bath houses.With few
exceptions, these motifs carry no symbolic messages in Greek andRoman art.

In Greek vase painting of the fifth century BC, however, the meander became
associated with a popular story drawn from the legends concerning King Minos of
Crete, the story of Theseus slaying the Minotaur and finding his way in and out of the
labyrinth. In these representations Theseus and the Minotaur - part bull, part man - are
shown as realistic figures, while the Labyrinth is often indicated by a simple meander
border, attached to a door post or pillar representing the entrance. In these scenes,
therefore, the meander border became the conventional sign or ideogram for the
Labyrinth.
- British Museum Pattern Books: Roman Designs, by Eva Wilson, 1999, p. 12.
Chinese fret

Chinese fret: Lattice ornament on balustrades, gates, friezes, and railings, made of
square-sectioned timber, and forming square and rectangular patterns, with diagonals
adding triangular and other shapes.

Highly developed by both the Chinese and the Japanese for textiles as well as for
architectural ornament, the fret occurs not only as a band but also as a complicated
allover pattern, sometimes with acute and obtuse angles instead of the more usual right
angles.

The word "chinoiserie" comes from the French language. It means simply, "Chinese
like." The concept of Chinoiserie fretwork has been employed in architecture and
interior design for several centuries. The best known designer that made Chinoiserie a
household standard is Thomas Chippendale who visited China during the development
of his own cabinetry studio in Great Britain in the middle of the 18th century. The
Chinoiserie introduced by Chippendale caught the design world's attention and spread
immediately throughout Europe. The staggered vertical and horizontal lines of this
fretwork motif are common in ancient Chinese architecture and still used today.

Our doors and windows: how to decorate them (1889)
Digitized by the Smithsonian Institute.
This is a book by the Cutting and Delaney firm of buffalo, a large and important
influence in the Orientalism movement the late 19th century.

(Special thanks to Paul Tucker for the alert on this.)

Furniture
Fretwork: Ornamental woodwork cut to represent small interlacing fillets or trellis work.
It is usually made in a complicated, repeating, geometric pattern.

A favored technique of Chippendale in his Chinese period (mid-18th century)
Scroll saw: In the 19th century, the Victorians used scroll saws for the cutting of fretwork. See
photos and explanation of a large treadle lathe and scroll saw. See also: photo of hand crank
scroll saw and photo of antique treadle powered scroll saw.
Moorish fretwork: The Moors possessed a large part of Spain during the early Gothic period,
and thus greatly influenced the style of Spanish and Portuguese art, architecture, and decoration.

Examples from Buffalo:
Left illustration above: Greek key - Albright-Knox Art Gallery
George N. Pierce Mausoleum
Williams-Butler House / Jacobs Executive Development Center
US Court House
Root Building
Frederick W Humble Bldg., 84 Mariner St.
177 Bidwell Pkwy.
491 Delaware Ave., The Midway
A. Simson House, 56 North Pearl Street
Greek meander - John W. Cowper House
Greek meander - Tracy Monument
Staircase - Bemis-Jones House
Wallpaper: Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
Furniture: Right illustration above: Reproduction Chippendale English tea
table - Kittinger Furniture Company
Furniture: Armchair - Ansley Wilcox Mansion / Theodore Roosevelt
Inaugural Site
Mirror - American Antique Furniture, Orchard Park, NY
Other examples:
See Islamic style/ Muslim style

Greek - Amphorae, Museum of Art and History in Geneva, Switzerland


Cast iron balcony - Savannah, Georgia
Norman fret - St. Denis Abbey
Greek meander mosaic floor - Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy
Mosaic floor - Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy
Moorish Fretwork panels - Amelia Givin Library, Mt. Holly Springs, Pa.


Chinese, 3 examples - Shanghai Old Town Yuyuan Bazaar, China


Summer Palace, Beijing


Furniture: Chippendale fret-carved mirror - Fairmount Park Woodford
House, Philadelphia
Furniture: Moorish Fretwork: - Interior Design Update
Furniture: George III Secretary - Dana Tillou Fine Arts

Photos and their arrangement 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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