Engineering:Medallion (architecture)

Short description: Round or oval decoration used in architecture

A medallion is a round or oval ornament (typically made of bronze but also made of stucco) that contains a sculptural or pictorial decoration on a façade, an interior, a monument, or a piece of furniture or equipment.

In the United Kingdom in the 19th century, this was a popular form of decoration in neoclassical architecture. The frame and portrait were carved as one, in marble for interiors, and in stone for exterior walls.

It is also the name of a scene that is inset into a larger stained glass window.

Gallery

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  Roman relief of Jupiter, part of a series of twelve gods in medallions, c.300-310 AD

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  Gothic relief on the Monastery of Saint Mary of Guadalupe, Spain, unknown architect, unknown date

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  Renaissance medallion on the Hôtel du Vieux-Raisin, Toulouse, France, unknown architect, c.1515–1528

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  Baroque sculpture of cherubs holding a medallion with Louis XIV's monogram, unknown sculptor, late 17th-very early 18th century

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  Rococo medallion in the lunette of the door of the Hôtel de Salm-Dyck, Paris, unknown architect, 1722

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  Louis XVI medallion with garlands on a Rococo panel, Abbaye de Sturzelbronn, Sturzelbronn, France, unknown sculptor, mid-18th century

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  Neoclassical medallion on the Grave of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, by David d'Angers, 1844

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  Renaissance Revival medallion on Cafeneaua Veche, Bucharest, Romania, unknown architect, early 19th century

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  Beaux-Arts polychrome medallions on the facade of a building in Montpellier, France, unknown ceramist, mid or late 19th century

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  Rococo Revival polychrome medallion on the facade of Beckershoffstraße no. 7, Mettmann, Germany, unknown architect, 1902

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  Art Deco medallion on the facade of the Dalaskolan, Göteborg, Sweden, unknown sculptor, 1924

See also

• Floor medallion
• Tondo (art): round (circular)
• Cartouche (design): oval