Frames Glossary

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Date: April 2023
Author: Chris Swan
Compiler: Elizabeth Robson
Additional work: Claire Martin, Rachel Childers, Astrid Smith, Sydney Beall Nikolaus

Introduction

This Glossary is an alphabetical listing of profile types, ornament, and stylistic titles, since many users may not readily distinguish between any of these categories of classification. It is not comprehensive and will provide a template to be augmented and improved upon with time. The Glossary is intended for the craftsperson, conservator, curator, collector or hobbyist who aspires to improve their understanding of Western historic picture frames, the architectural interiors to which they relate, and in many cases to the associated artworks they protect. Frames are ephemeral and often switched, enlarged or reduced to match other works, damaged and degraded or lost altogether. They are as ubiquitous as they are misunderstood among decorative arts objects. To this end, this glossary seeks to provide a collection of terms alongside illustrations for better describing and communicating their style, construction, and ultimately, their preservation.

Name	Description	Image
Abacus	Square slab found on top of a capital.	Image Source: GilbertScott.org
Acanthus	Any of the stylized forms of the Acanthus plant, such as Acanthus mollis, introduced by the Greeks. Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.3	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.3
Animal glue	A family of traditional protein colloid adhesives made from the skin, bones, or organs typically of horses and cattle, but also rabbits and fish. Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue	Image Source: Animal Skin Glue
Antefix	The closing ornament on the roof of buildings or on the top of an object.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.19
Antependium	A hanging which was suspended over and in front of the alter in medieval churches.	Image Source: Antependium
Anthemion	Based on semi-naturalistic ornament imitating palm plants of palmettes, and sometimes alternating with honeysuckle linked by helixes and cauliculi.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.20
Architectural	See Kentian.
Architrave	A group of raised moldings on the lower side of an entablature.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.24
Archivolt	The molding running around the face of an arch immediately above the opening.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.24
Arris	Sharp edge of molding.	Image Source: Almany
Astragal	A half-circle convexity, often referred to as a miniature torus.	Image Source: Astragal
Artist frame	Frame designed by artist and incorporated into the artwork’s design.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, CWF, 2021.300.1
Auricular	A 17th-century frame style resembling ears and earlobes. These frames were highly stylized, free-flowing interpretations of organic forms, usually animal or marine in nature.	Image Source: Simon, Art of the Picture Frame, pg.53
Back edge	Among the molding courses farthest from the innermost or sight edge.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Base	Horizontal moldings beneath a column, engaged column, or pilaster.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.42
Bead-and-Reel	An astragal which has been worked into a pattern of alternating pearls and extended pearls.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.200
Beading	Semicircular molding carved to resemble a string of beads; sometimes called a pearl course.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.200
Bevel	Dominated by large flat surfaces angled inward toward the sight edge.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Blocked corners	A frame with square raised corners.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1986 - 28
Bole	A soft, oily clay mixed with glue size and used as a colored and burnishable substrate for water gilding.	Image Source: Rees, Gilding and Antique Finishes, pg.54
Bolection	A reverse section frame type, adapted from Baroque architecture introduced in the late 17th century, with a distinctly convex shaped inner molding course curving downward to a lower molded course on the outer edge.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Bronzed	Late 19th-century revival style intentionally colored with a brown-bronze finish.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1936 - 190
Burnishing	The process of polishing to a high sheen the water gilt bole surface with a smooth agate tipped burnishing tool. Only water gilding can be burnished.	Image Source: Rees, Gilding and Antique Finishes, pg.61
Bucranium	Ornament in the form of an ox skull, usually in low or half relief.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.72
C-scroll	Any of various “C” shaped elements scroll, especially popular in Rococo ornamentation.	Image Source: Rococo
Cabling	Similar to rope but the carved elements are closer to perpendicular to the molding length.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.81
Cameo	Small oval decoration derived from the carved classical gemstones, which may be part of a frieze or predella.	Image Source: Cameo Wiki
Canted corner	An angled (oblique-angled) line or surface that cuts off a corner.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, CWF, 1988.303
Capital	The collection of elements crowning a column, engaged column, or pilaster, There are five orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.85
Cartouche	A boss-like raised ornament, often asymmetrical, used as a centering motif.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.50
Cassetta	1. Italian term for architrave; a tripartite frame comprising a simple, lap-jointed back frame and entablature-derived moldings. 2. Molding derived from entablature, with sight and back edge moldings separated by a frieze.	Image Source: Newberry, Italian Renaissance Frames, pg.25
Cauliculus	See Rinceau.
Cavetto	Molding type comprised of a quarter-circle concavity.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.91
Chamfer	A beveled edge.	Image Source: Gloag, A short Dictionary of Furniture, pg.178
Coffer	Derived from a sunken panel in a ceiling or soffit, it consists of a rosette surrounded by four lengths of taenia molding.	Image Source: Coffer Wiki
Column	Freestanding circular supporting shaft, usually completed at top and bottom with a capital and base respectively.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.115
Compo	Short for Composition. A putty-like casting material simulating carved wood. It is usually made from a heated mixture of chalk or whiting, animal glue, linseed oil, and resin that is pressed into rigid molds and applied to nearly any surface shape while still warm and flexible. Typically, the surface was then gilded or painted. The compo elements are highlighted in red at right.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Composite order	One of the five classical orders. A Roman elaboration of the Corinthian order, having the acanthus leaves of its capital combine with the large volutes of the Ionic order, and other elaborate details.	Image Source: Chambers, A Treatise on Civil Architecture, in Which the Principles of That Art Are Lain down, and Illustrated by a Great Number of Plates Accurately Designed, and Elegantly Engraved by the Best Hands, pg.26B
Congé	Cove base molding flush at the top with the wall above, but with a fillet between the cove and the floor.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.122
Console	Bracket in the shape of an S-scroll, with one end broader than the other.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.123
Corbel	A support projecting from a vertical surface.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.129
Corinthian order	The slenderest and most ornate of the three Greek orders, characterized by a bell-shaped capital with volutes and two rows of acanthus leaves, and with an elaborate cornice. Much used by the Romans for its showiness.	Image Source: Chambers, A Treatise on Civil Architecture, in Which the Principles of That Art Are Lain down, and Illustrated by a Great Number of Plates Accurately Designed, and Elegantly Engraved by the Best Hands, pg.29A
Cornice	Group of raised moldings on the upper side of an entablature.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.131
Cove	Also called a scoop. A molding profile similar to a cavetto molding, concave and about a quarter-circle or less in profile. It was commonly use in Rococo furniture and interiors to link two opposed surfaces, such as a wall and soffit or a wall and ceiling.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.200
Crackle finish	A crackle finish, or craquelure, is a pattern of finish shrinkage often revealing underlying layers.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1933.404.1
Cross-hatch	Background texture, usually an X-shaped pattern incised in the gesso.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1947.610
Cushion	A frame type featuring a somewhat flattened convex section molding. They could feature carved reliefs often in the clasped leaf and tulip motifs. Other common patterns are a waving pattern of twisted leaves and beads on a string. Similar to the French Louis XIII style.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1938-197,A&B
Cyma recta	Generically called an ogee when the orientation is unclear. Classical entablature concavity continuing into a convexity.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.144
Cyma reversa	Also referred to as a reverse ogee. Classical entablature convexity running into a concavity.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.144
Dentil	Regularly spaced row of small blocks forming part of a cornice or carved molding.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.151
Diagonal spline	A separate structural joining element perpendicular to the mitered joint. Various shapes include tapered wedges or thin veneers called feather splines.	Image Source: Popular Woodworking
Diapering	Surface decoration composed of repeated small geometrical shapes such as diamonds or squares etc. connecting with one another.	Image Source: Meyer, Handbook of ornament; a grammar of art, industrial and architectural designing in all its branches for practical as well as theoretical use, pg.277
Distemper yellow ocher	A generic description for the yellow-painted outer edge of frames using a glue-based medium mixed with yellow ocher pigment.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, CWF, 1933.404.1
Dolphin	Decorative motif; mythological fish-like sea creature. Derived from ancient Greek and Roman art.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.88
Doric order	The column and entablature developed by the Dorian Greeks, sturdy in proportion, with a simple cushion capital, a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, and mutules in the cornice.	Image Source: Chambers, A Treatise on Civil Architecture, in Which the Principles of That Art Are Lain down, and Illustrated by a Great Number of Plates Accurately Designed, and Elegantly Engraved by the Best Hands, pg.23A
Echinus	Derived from an ovolo molding below the abacus, a band ornament with egg-and-dart or flutes interwoven with volutes.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 176
Egg-and-dart	An ovolo carved with sheathed ovoids alternating with pointed (or other) forms, possibly derived from a schematized lotus leaf.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 177
Eglomisé	A border treatment inside a wooden frame that is reverse painted and gilt on glass.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, CWF, 1974.404.1
Entablature	Horizontal area supported by columns and consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 184
Fasces	A reed and ribbon motif, symbolic of Roman authority that shows up in early 19th century frames.	Image Source: Meyer, Handbook of ornament; a grammar of art, industrial and architectural designing in all its branches for practical as well as theoretical use, pg. 156
Fascia	Broad or narrow, shallow step derived from classical architrave. A general term for flat course in a molding.	Image Source: Ware, The American Vignola, pg.9
Feather spline(s)	A type of diagonal spline: a thin saw kerf cut that is parallel to frames front surface and perpendicular to the miter joint, filled with veneer like piece of wood.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Festoon	Also referred to as a swag. Decorative draping chain or garland of foliage, flowers, and/or fruit.	Image Source: Lockwood, The Furniture Collectors Glossary, pg.25
Fillet	Classically derived small step between larger moldings. Can be executed raised or recessed.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.198
Finial	A round antefix.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.199
Flemish scroll	A scroll consisting of a reversed C-scroll joined to a C-scroll in such a way as to not form a flowing line.	Image Source: Lockwood, The Furniture Collectors, pg.44
Fleur-de-lis	Stylized cluster of three flowers or petals, with central one erect and others bending outward. A heraldic device throughout Europe from late medieval times, associated especially with the French.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg.110
Flute	Vertical concave channels cut into shafts of columns or pilasters; regularly spaced scotias often alternating with darts and sometimes cabled or reeded.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.213
Fly specking	A pattern of black specks from fly (or spider, typically white) droppings indicating age or benign neglect. Or, in this image of a reproduction, the imitation by brush-flicked black paint overspray.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, CWF, 2001.101.11
Frieze	Also referred to as a plate. A flat area between raised moldings, often not decorated. Also, the flat area between the cornice and the architrave.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.219
Gadroon	Or Godroon, also referred to as lobing. A decorative motif consisting of convex curves in a series. In furniture and other decorative arts, it is an ornamental carved band of tapered, curving and sometimes alternating concave and convex sections, usually diverging obliquely either side of a central point, often with rounded ends vaguely reminiscent of flower petals.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg.120
Gesso	A standard substrate material comprising chalk and animal glue used to prepare a surface, especially wood, for painting or gilding.	Image Source: Lowy
Gilder’s liquor	Used in the process of water gilding, a wetting mixture of water, alcohol and sizing used to activate the glue just prior to laying gold leaf.
Gilding	The process of applying gold leaf or other precious metal leaf to a prepared surface.	Image Source: Rees, Gilding and Antique Finishes, pg.53
Glair	Traditional European toning/matting varnish on gilding. It was also used as a size for some gilding techniques.	Image Source: Holly Monroe
Greek fret	See Meander.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction pg.219
Guilloche	A low-relief running ornament depicting interwoven strands.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction pg.238
Guttae	Plural of gutta. A set of small, drop-like ornaments, usually found in a Doric frieze.	Image Source: Wikapedia-Gutta
Half lap	A joint where half of the total thickness of each member overlaps at the corner.
Half lap miter	A joint with a diagonal mitered upper portion which conceals a half lap lower portion.	Image Source: Wikipedia-lap joint
Hazzling	Zig-zag chasing/cutting to add texture to the background in the gesso.	Image Source: Karraker, Looking at European Frames: a Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques, pg.48
Husk	Foliage ornament that pertains to corn husks often in a naturalistic vertical series.	Image Source: National Gallery of Canada
Imbrication	An overlapping pattern usually of scales, flowers, or leaves.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, p. 261
Ionic order	The column and entablature originated by the Ionian Greeks, having a capital with large volutes, a fasciated entablature, continuous frieze, and usually dentils in the cornice.	Image Source: Art History with M Shorman
Italian Style	For the purposes of this glossary, the two styles of frames are Salvator Rosa and Maratta (see below).
Salvator Rosa	Similar to Maratta, an Italian frame associated with the 17th century artist Salvator Rosa, made popular in Britain in the 18th Century. The frame’s profile is a central scotia bordered by an astragal at the front outer edge and a narrow molding at the inner edge. Part of the ornament is applied to the profile rather than carved from it. The cove is undecorated. Decorative features include tongues, acanthus leaves, flutes, and beading.	Image Source: Mitchell, A History of European Picture Frames, pg. 30
Maratta	Similar to Salvator Rosa, a frame that has a deep front hollow and a prominent outward curving top edge undercut by a back hollow. The inner cove has a continuous design. Decorative features often seen are tongues, acanthus leaves, and sometimes gadroons and shells. An Italian styled frame that gained popularity in Britain and was widely used during the period of 1750-1790. It received its namesake from its association with artist Carlo Maratta.	Image Source: Mitchell, A History of European Picture Frames, pg. 65
Kentian	Also referred to as architectural frames. Popular from 1720-1760, the Kentian frame references British architect William Kent. It is essentially an architrave dominated by projecting square corners, flat frieze, and raised and carved outer edges.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1940-446
Key	Also called a stretcher key; a tapered wedge fitted into joint openings on the back of and used for adjusting tension of a painting’s stretcher.	Image Source: Viatkina, Hidden Gem, 2018
Knulling	A British term, in definition similar to gadroon.	Image Source: Lockwood, The Furniture Collectors Glossary, pg. 40
Lamb’s tongue	Technically a cyma reversa from Roman architecture; a popular low-relief Neoclassical ornament, usually molded in compo.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1959-271
Leaf and tongue	Carved ornament of alternating stylized acanthus leaf and tongue shapes, among several common motifs on British 18th-century Maratta-style frames.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1956-296
Meander	Also referred to as a Greek fret. Geometric running pattern of maze-like squared lines.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 219
Metope	The blank or decorated space between the triglyphs of a Doric frieze.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 315
Miter	A joint where the joining edges are cut at an angle equaling half of the corner angle (45° for a 90°corner).	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 159
Modillion	A horizontal bracket or console, usually in the form of a scroll with an acanthus, supporting the corona under a cornice.	Image Source: Shoptalk: Modillion, 2019
Mortise and Tenon	A joint composed of a mortise (cavity) and a tenon (projection) that can be executed as a stopped or a through tenon.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 322
Mutule	A sloping, flat block on the soffit of a Doric cornice, usually decorated with rows of six guttae; occurs over each triglyph and each metope of the frieze.	Image Source: Lederberg, 2018
Neoclassical	A frame with designs and features that harken back to the time of antiquity, particularly that of ancient Rome. They could reference architectural elements.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1991-581,B
Early Neoclassicism	A general period classification of frame styles often narrow, rectilinear or cove-profiled, with restrained ornamentation of classically inspired bead, water leaf, or cable courses.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1991-1173
Late Neoclassicism	These frames were categorized by deeper profiles and bolder taste. They could have extensive ornamentation, aided by the use of pressed compo ornament. The moldings were often wider and heavier. Older frames were sometimes remodeled to fit the neoclassical style. In France, the anthemion and lotus motifs were popular, but they were not widely used in England.	Image Source: Mitchell, Frameworks: Form, Function and Ornament in European Portrait Frames, pg. 321
Ogee	Molding or element with an S-shaped profile. See Cyma recta.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 201
Ogee style	First third of the 19th century molding, dominated by a flattened S-curve.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Oil gilding	The process of gilding in which the surface is coated with a layer of varnish or oil size. After the varnish or oil surface has partially dried to the desired tack, the gold leaf is applied. The gold is not burnished.	Image Source: Watergild Studios, "Gilding Metal", 2019
Ovolo	A molding with an approximately quarter-circle convexity.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 344
Palmette	Shallow symmetrical cluster of stylized leaves based on palm fronds.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 346
Panel frame	Late 17th-century molding similar to bunched leaf. The name refers to the flat areas between the running foliage.	Image Source: Mitchell, Frameworks: Form, Function and Ornamentation in European Portrait Frames, pg. 146
Parcel gilt	A presentation generally contrasting gilt highlights with un-gilt elements.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #56.564
Pastel frame	Frame made to house pastels, which has two rabbets: the outermost for glass and inner for the artwork.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Patera	Radially symmetrical floral ornament with petals surrounding a central boss.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 352
Pediment	The form, usually triangular, carried above the entablature of a classical temple; it may also be semicircular or broken.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 353
Pilaster	An engaged flat pier or half-pier resembling a column.	Image Source: Lounsbury, An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape, pg. 272
Plaster, molded	A three-dimensional architectural ornament made from calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate, some late 19th-century frame applications.	Image Source: Mitchell, Frameworks: Form, Function and Ornament in European Portrait Frames, pg. 131
Plate	See Frieze.
Plinth	Also referred to as a pedestal. Substructure supporting a column, usually standing forward of the horizontal molding and predella/antependium.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 369
Predella	The bottom tier of an altar piece, between the principal panel or base-relief and the altar itself.	Image Source: Terry, Art History Glossary
Pyramidal molding	A variation of a bevel type with the prominent angular top molding.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1972.100.1
Quatrefoil	A four-lobed shape or aperture.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 390
Quirk bead	A molding consisting of a bead separated from an adjoining surface.	Image Source: The Free Dictionary
Rabbet	Also referred to as a rebate. The recess beneath the sight edge of a frame, intended to receive the framed object.
Reverse	A frame type or molding with its highest course on the sight edge.
Ribbon and stick	A raised, applied, or carved ornament with the appearance of a twisted flat ribbon wound around a narrow dowel.	Image Source: Karraker, Looking at European Frames; A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques, pg. 67
Rinceau	Also referred to as caliculus. A running ornament of acanthus, lotus foliage, or protruding scrolls and corner ornaments.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 408
Rocaille	An 18th-century term for rocklike, wavelike, or other flowing organic curves and piercings.	Image Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.97.43
Rococo	Including but not exclusive to swept frames. These often have swept sides and could be very elaborate. Common elements include C-scroll corners and ogee sections. Those made in France by French Huguenot craftsmen are often more organic, sculptural, and three-dimensional than the Rococo frames of England. English frames are more linear and have arrangements of flowers and leaves.	Image Source: Wikipedia, "Rocaille", 2023
Rondel	Also see tondo. A circular frame.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1986-28
Rope	Molding made of a dowel or portion of a dowel carved to resemble a twisted rope.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 201
Rosette	A stylized, usually round, floral ornament based on the lotus blossom.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 259
Rottenstone	A gray powder imitating dirt often used in the artificial patina applied to modern replica frames.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #2001.101.11
Rustic	Comprising stylized or real unrefined naturalistic elements.	Image Source: Winterthur, 56th Annual Delaware Antiques Show, pg. 61
Sanded	Sand glued onto a surface prior to gilding to create surface texture.	Image Source: Karraker, Looking at European Frames: a Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques, pg. 71
Scroll	A volute which curls out of plane, suggesting a partially un-furled paper scroll.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 429
Scotia	Concave half-circle molding with bottom projecting beyond the top.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 201
Shell	This motif is a realistic representation of a clam-like shell.	Image Source: Meyer, Handbook of ornament, pg. 89
Sight edge	The inner edge of the frame adjacent to the picture.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Silver gilt	Silver-leaf gilding was popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and then again after the mid-19th century, the latter period often featuring a yellow-toning varnish rendering a pale gold. Scratches in the coating result in black silver sulfide corrosion spots over time.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1993-138
Size	1. In reference to gilding, a preparatory adhesive layer, often oil. 2. A liquid which is applied over wood, plaster, or other porous surfaces to fill pores; reduces the absorption of subsequently applied adhesive or coating.	Image Source: AmyHoward.com, "Gilding Size", 2020
Slip frame	The inner, smaller molding fitted into the rabbet of the primary, larger molding for adjusting the opening size.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Soffit	The exposed undersurface of any overhead component of a building, such as an arch, balcony, beam, cornice, or lintel.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 454
Spandrel	Area between an archivolt or shaped opening in its rectangular surround, usually filling the corners of rectangular frames.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 459
Split spindle molding	Frame composed of turned forms, half cylinders, of vernacular style.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #73.100.3
S-scroll	An “S” shaped scroll, often partly overlaid by foliage in Rococo frames.	Image Source: Lockwood, The Furniture Collectors Glossary, pg. 45
Stencil gilt	Oil gilding technique using bronze powders and stencils, popular in the mid-19th century.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #39.100.8
Stopped fluting	The lower portion of a fluted column or pilaster with convexly-filled-in fluting.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1933-487
Strapwork	A type of ornament consisting of a narrow fillet or band which is folded, crossed, and interlaced.	Image Source: PFollansbee.com, "Strapwork Carving Designs", 2013
Stretcher	Also called the stretcher frame, this is the primary structure onto which a painting’s canvas is fixed.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1993-138
Swag	Also see Festoon. A draping ornament cluster or cloth fastened at both ends and hanging down in the middle.	Image Source: Lockwood, The Furniture Collector's Glossary, pg. 25
Swept	A frame type of the Rococo period, especially French in origin, 18th-century period term. Overall curvilinear design with “S” and “C” scrolls.	Image Source: Davis, The Secret Lives of Frames: One Hundred Years of Art and Artistry, pg. 166
Tabernacle	A frame characterized by architectonic structural and decorative members, most often based on classical aedicular precedents.	Image Source: Newberry, Italian Renaissance Frames, pg. 41
Taenia	Any small, flat, raised molding.	Image Source: Ware, The American Vignola, pg. 9
Tondo	Also see rondel. A frame with circular sight and back edges.	Image Source: Davis, The Secret Lives of Frames; One Hundred Years of Art and Artistry, pg. 165
Top edge	The molding nearest to the viewer, or the projection farthest from the back of the frame.
Torus	A half-circle convexity.	Image Source: Boyce, Dictionary of Furniture, pg. 201
Trefolio	An ornamental motif, radially symmetrical, three-lobed, formalized leaf form, usually enclosed by a circle.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 512
Triglyph	The vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture spaced between metopes.	Image Source: Wikipedia, "Triglyph", 2007
Tuscan order	A simplified version of the Doric order, having a plain frieze and no mutules in the cornice.	Image Source: Chambers, A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture..., pg. 15A
Twisted rope	An applied three-dimensional molding imitating twisted rope.	Image Source: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, #1974.404.1
Tympanum	The recessed surface enclosed within the upper and lower cornices of a pediment.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 517
Volute	A spiraling, scroll-like ornament.	Image Source: Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, pg. 531
Water gilding	The process of gilding in which the gesso and bole surface is coated with a solution of gilder’s liquor to activate the glue, followed by a quick laying-on of the gold leaf, and burnished soon after with an agate burnisher.	Image Source: Rees, Gilding and Antique Finishes, pg. 58

References/Resources

"1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Astragal." Wikisource, The Free Library. Wikisource, The Free Library, 5 May. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Astragal&oldid=2831413/>.

Adair, William. 1983. The Frame in America, 1700-1900:  A Survey of Fabrication Techniques and Styles. Washington D.C.: American Institute of Architects Foundation.

Boyce, Charles. 2014. Dictionary of Furniture. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Brettell, Richard R. and Steven Starling. 1986. The Art of the Edge: European Frames 1300-1900.  New Haven, Connecticut: Art Institute of Chicago.

Chambers, William. 1836. A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture, in Which the Principles of That Art Are Lain down, and Illustrated by a Great Number of Plates Accurately Designed, and Elegantly Engraved by the Best Hands. London: M. Taylor.

Davis, Deborah. 2007. Lowy: The Secret Lives of Frames: One Hundred Years of Art and Artistry.  New York: Filipacchi Publishing.

Follansbee, Peter. 2013. "Strapwork Carving Designs". PFollansbee.wordpress.com. February 8, 2013.

"Gilding Metal". 2019. Watergild Studios.

Gloag, John. 1965. A short dictionary of Furniture. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Harris, Cyril M. 2000. Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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