Editing Frieze

{{Short description|Wide central section part of an entablature}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date={{currentmonthname}} {{currentyear}}}}

[[File:20100410 athina108.JPG|thumb|[[Doric order|Doric]] frieze at the [[Temple of Hephaestus]], [[Athens]] (449–415 BCE).]] 
[[File:Decorative emblems The Circus Bath.jpg|thumb|right|[[The Circus (Bath)]], UK. Architectural detail of the frieze showing the alternating [[triglyph]]s and [[metope (architecture)|metope]]. ([[John Wood, the Elder]], architect)]]
[[File:Ornate molding frieze at Hoysaleshwara temple, Halebidu.jpg|right|thumb|Frieze of animals, mythological episodes at the base of [[Hoysaleswara temple]], [[India]]]]
[[File:Yankee-stadium-frieze.jpg|right|thumb|What is described as "frieze" on the roof of [[Yankee Stadium]]]]

In [[classical architecture]], the '''frieze''' {{IPAc-en|f|r|iː|z}} is the wide central section of an [[entablature]] and may be plain in the [[Ionic order|Ionic]] or [[Corinthian order|Corinthian orders]], or decorated with [[bas-relief]]s. [[Patera (architecture)|Paterae]] are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither [[column (architecture)|columns]] nor [[pilaster]]s are expressed, on an [[astylar]] wall it lies upon the [[architrave]] ("main beam") and is capped by the [[molding (decorative)|molding]]s of the [[cornice (architecture)|cornice]]. A frieze can be found on many Greek and Roman buildings, the [[Parthenon Frieze]] being the most famous, and perhaps the most elaborate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Senseney |first=John R. |date=2021-03-01 |title=The Architectural Origins of the Parthenon Frieze |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/80/1/12/116120/The-Architectural-Origins-of-the-Parthenon-Frieze |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |language=en |volume=80 |issue=1 |pages=12–29 |doi=10.1525/jsah.2021.80.1.12 |issn=0037-9808|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cotterill |first=Henry Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mtRAQAAIAAJ |title=Ancient Greece: A Sketch of Its Art, Literature & Philosophy Viewed in Connexion with Its External History from Earliest Times to the Age of Alexander the Great |date=1913 |publisher=George G. Harrap & Company |language=en}}</ref> 

In interiors, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the [[picture rail]] and under the [[crown molding]]s or cornice. By extension, a frieze is a long stretch of [[painting|painted]], [[sculpture|sculpted]] or even [[calligraphy|calligraphic]] decoration in such a position, normally above eye-level. Frieze decorations may depict scenes in a sequence of discrete panels. The material of which the frieze is made may be [[plasterwork]], carved wood or other decorative medium.<ref name="Columbia University">{{cite web |title=Parthenon Frieze |url=http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/parthenon/flash/main.htm |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=www.mcah.columbia.edu}}</ref>

More loosely, "frieze" is sometimes used for any continuous horizontal strip of decoration on a wall, containing figurative or ornamental motifs. In an example of an architectural frieze on the façade of a building, the octagonal [[Tower of the Winds]] in the Roman [[agora]] at [[Athens]] bears relief sculptures of the eight winds on its frieze.

A '''pulvinated frieze''' (or '''pulvino''') is [[Wiktionary:convex|convex]] in section. Such friezes were typical of 17th-century [[Northern Mannerism]], especially in subsidiary friezes, and much employed in interior architecture and in furniture.

The concept of a ''frieze'' has been generalized in the [[mathematics|mathematical]] construction of [[frieze pattern]]s.

== Ancient examples ==
<gallery caption="Achaemenid friezes">
File:Achaemenid Lotus and Palmette scroll.jpg|Achaemenid Lotus and Palmette scroll
File:Persian frieze designs at Persepolis.jpg|Achaemenid frieze designs at [[Persepolis]]. 
</gallery><gallery caption="Greek friezes">
File:Erechtheum frieze Glyptothek Munich 242.jpg|[[Ionic order|Ionic]] frieze of the [[Erechtheum]] ([[Athens]]), 421–406 BCE
File:Greek frieze designs.jpg|Top: Kyanos frieze from [[Tiryns]]. Bottom: Frieze of the [[Erechtheion]] in ([[Athens]]), 4th BCE
File:Frieze from Delphi lotus with multiple calyx.jpg|Frieze from [[Delphi]] incorporating lotuses with multiple [[calyx (flower)|calyx]]es 
</gallery><gallery caption="Indian friezes">
File:Frieze of capital of Lat at Allahabad.jpg|Frieze of the lost [[capital (architecture)|capital]] of the Allahabad pillar, with two [[Nelumbo nucifera|lotuses]] framing a [[palmette|"flame palmette"]] surrounded by small [[rosette (design)|rosette]] flowers, 3rd BCE
File:Rampurva bull capital detail.jpg|[[Rampurva|Rampurva bull capital]], detail of the [[abacus (architecture)|abacus]], with two [[palmette|"flame palmettes"]] framing a lotus surrounded by small rosette flowers, 3rd BCE
File:Sankissa elephant abacus detail.jpg|Frieze of the [[Sankissa]] elephant, 3rd century BCE 
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Friezes}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Frieze |short=x}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Friezes| ]]
[[Category:Columns and entablature]]