Finial, Luxemborg Gardens, Paris
Is this shape called a "finial" or is it called something else when it a sculpture on its own? What a strange thing... to isolate a decorative element and make it an autonomous object.
Is this shape called a "finial" or is it called something else when it a sculpture on its own? What a strange thing... to isolate a decorative element and make it an autonomous object.
Finials from some homes in Queens, New York, taken on a walk in May of 2002.
Looking at these finials, one after another, makes me wonder "Why do we do this? What happens at the end of things that makes us want to decorate them, elaborate on them/with them?" It is as if something different MUST happen when a shape reaches it top. This does seem to happen more at the top than at the bottom of things. But it is mostly a feeling of astonishment at the fact of their invention and the need to invent "out on a limb".
A cloche and a gate.
Finials from Brooklyn and The Cooper Hewitt Museum in Manhattan
One Jvjol, as of yet.
A few more pictures of finials.