Illustrated Architecture Dictionary ............... Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary ............... Illustrated
FURNITURE Glossary
Gadroon / godroon
(ga DROON)
Also called nulling.
Architecture and Furniture:
An ornament composed chiefly of ovoid or more elongated bosses regularly repeated, side by side.
A series of elongated egg or ovoid forms in a band.
A convex rounded ornament, round at one end and tapering to a point at the other.
Used in silverwork.
It is common in Elizabethan work and Italian Renaissance work.
Some scholars suggest that gadrooning has its origins in medieval Islamic architecture, and that European architects absorbed the style after contacts with Islamic cultures.
A characteristic decoration of bulbous supports in Elizabethan style carving (as in above illustration).
Chippendale used it extensively for borders and tip edges; popular on Chippendale furniture made in New York and Philadelphia.
Examples from Buffalo:
- Illustration above: Furniture: Seymour H. Knox House / Blessed Sacrament RC Church Parish Office
- Wall sconce - Barker Square Condominiums
- Wall sconce - Minot Tanner House
- Jacobean Revival mantelpiece - Lockwood House
- Furniture: Chippendale English tea table top - Kittinger Furniture Company
- Furniture: Colonial Revival (Federal) bookcase - Old Editions Book Shop and Café
- Furniture: Eastlake side chair - Private collection, Buffalo, NY
Other examples:
- Palais Royal, Paris, France
- Furniture: Shoe, Philadelphia Chippendale side chair - Winterthur Museum
- Furniture: Skirt, New York Chippendale side chair - Winterthur Museum
