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"Door - Attached Breastboard"
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Pediments are architectural
ornamentations mounted over windows and doorways to enhance the look
of the portal in particular and the building in general. The ancient
Greeks introduced the concept, and in their architectural designs standard
pediments were divided into three categories. The Greek designs were triangular, rounded in the form of some portion of a circle, or decorated with scrolling. Architects in the Roman civilization copied and expanded on the standard pediment designs introduced by the Greeks. |
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Pediments are mounted above a door or window by fasteners that attach to the top piece of moulding framing the opening. This piece of moulding is called a crosshead or a breastboard: it may rise several inches above the opening. Many pediments produced today have the crosshead already attached, and the two are mounted as a single unit atop the door or window. Pediments that do not have pre-attached crossheads are called standard pediments. The acorn standard pediment design has two diagonal pieces of moulding extending from either end of the crosshead. These pieces are angled toward the center of the standard pediment, like the arms of a triangle rising toward a peak. They terminate about three quarters of the distance to the center of the pediment. Rising from the center base of the pediment is a round pedestal with a rounded acorn mounted atop it. |
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