Frieze

Frieze. 1. (Through the Fr. frise, and Ital. fregio, from the Lat. Phrygium, sc. opus, Phrygian or embroidered work), a term given in architecture to the central division of the entablature of an order (see Order), but also applied to any oblong horizontal feature, introduced for decorative purposes and enriched with carving. The Doric frieze had a structural origin as the triglyphs suggest vertical support. The Ionic frieze was purely decorative and probably did not exist in the earliest examples, if we may judge by the copies found in the Lycian tombs carved in the rock. There is no frieze in the Caryatide portico of the Erechtheum, but in the Ionic temples its introduction may have been necessitated in consequence of more height being required in the entablature to carry the beams supporting the lacunaria over the peristyle. In the frieze of the Erechtheum the figures (about 2 ft. high) were carved in white marble and affixed by clamps to a background of black Eleusinian marble. The frieze of the Choragic monument of Lysicrates (10 in. high) was carved with figures representing the story of Dionysus and the pirates. The most remarkable frieze ever sculptured was that on the outside of the wall of the cella of the Parthenon representing the procession of the celebrants of the Panathenaic Festival. It was 40 in. in height and 525 ft. long, being carried round the whole building under the peristyle. Nearly the whole of the western frieze exists in situ; of the remainder, about half is in the British Museum, and as much as remains is either in Athens or in other museums. In some of the Roman temples, as in the temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the temple of the Sun, the frieze is elaborately carved and in later work is made convex, to which the term “pulvinated” is given.

2. (Probably connected with “frizz,” to curl; there is no historical reason to connect the word with Friesland), a thick, rough woollen cloth, of very lasting quality, and with a heavy nap, forming small tufts or curls. It is largely manufactured in Ireland.