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GUILLOCHE

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 694 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUILLOCHE , a See also:

French word for an See also:ornament, either painted or carved, which was one of the See also:principal decorative bands employed"by the Greeks in their temples or on their vases. Guilloches are single, See also:double or triple; they consist of a See also:series of circles equidistant one from the other and enclosed in a See also:band which winds See also:round them and interlaces. This guilloche is of See also:Asiatic origin and was largely employed in the decoration of the See also:Assyrian palaces, where it was probably copied from Chaldaean See also:work, as there is an See also:early example at See also:Erech which See also:dates from the See also:time of Gudea (2294 B.C.). The ornament as painted by the Greeks has almost entirely disappeared, but traces are found in the See also:temple of See also:Nemesis at Rhamnus; and on the terra-See also:cotta slabs by which the See also:timber See also:roofs of See also:Greek temples were protected, it is painted in See also:colours which are almost as brilliant as when first produced, those of the See also:Treasury of See also:Gela at See also:Olympia being of See also:great beauty. These examples are double guilloches, with two rows of circles, each with an See also:independent interlacing band and See also:united by a small arc with palmette inside; in both the single and double guilloches of Greek work there is a See also:flower in the centre of the circles. In the triple guilloche, the centre See also:row of circles comes See also:half-way between the others, and the enclosing band crosses diagonally both ways, interlacing alternately. The best example of the triple guilloche is that which is carved on the See also:torus moulding of the See also:base and on the small See also:convex moulding above the See also:echinus of the capitals of the columns of the See also:Erechtheum at See also:Athens. It was largely employed in See also:Roman work, and the single guilloche is found almost universally as a border in See also:mosaic pavements, not only in See also:Italy but throughout See also:Europe. In the See also:Renaissance in Italy it was also a favourite enrichment for See also:borders and occasionally in See also:France and See also:England.

End of Article: GUILLOCHE

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GUILLON, MARIE NICOLAS SYLVESTRE (1760-1847)

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