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    The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland

    Glossary

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    palmette

    palmette

     

    Classically-derived foliate form, often with voluted outer leaves

    parclose screen

    parclose screen

    A screen at the entrance to a side chapel.

    patera

    patera

    Round ornament, sunk like a dish. See also roundel.

    pediment

    pediment

    A low pitched gable above doors, windows, etc.

    pier

    pier

    A square or composite pillar performing a similar function to a column.

    pilaster

    pilaster

    The flat version of a column against a wall. A pilaster strip is similar but without a base or capital.

    pillar piscina

    pillar piscina

    A piscina in the form of a short shaft with a base and a capital hollowed out to carry water, usually set against a wall alongside an altar.

    pinnacle

    pinnacle

    A termination crowning spires, etc. usually of pyramidal or conical shape, often carved.

    piscina

    piscina

    A basin (free-standing or set in the wall) near the altar, usually on the south side, for washing vessels used in the Eucharist.

    plinth

    plinth

    The projecting block beneath the base of a column, or projecting courses at the foot of a wall; the upper edge is usually chamfered or moulded.

    pointed arch

    pointed arch

    An arch composed of segmental arcs struck from two or more centres. The two segments lean against one another and meet at a point.

    porch

    porch

    Covered projecting entrance.

    pseudo-colonnette

    pseudo-colonnette

    A colonnette or shaft merely suggested by the curved cutting of an angle stone and shallow vertical quirks.

    pulpitum

    pulpitum

    The screen separating the choir from the nave and the choir from the aisles. See screen

    pulvinated

    pulvinated

     

    A convex profile, usually applied to a frieze or impost (from the Latin word for a cushion).

    Purbeck marble

    Purbeck marble

    Not a true marble, but a fossiliferous limestone quarried in Dorset from Peneril Point westwards to Warbarrow Tout. It ranges in colour from russet red, to greenish brown or blue grey, and is capable of taking a high polish. See also Sussex Marble.

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