A meander is a continuous geometric ornament formed by a line that turns back on itself at right angles, producing a band of interlocking hooks. It is also known as the Greek key or the meander frieze.
Where the name comes from
The name comes from the river Maiandros in Asia Minor — today the Büyük Menderes in Turkey — which wound so tightly that its name became the word for any winding course. In geography a river bend is still called a meander; in architecture the word came to mean the geometric pattern.
The ornament is best known from Greek antiquity, where it appears on pottery, mosaic floors and mouldings. Through Roman building and later classicism, the Empire style and the neoclassical nineteenth century it has kept returning in European architecture.
Using the motif
- As a frieze. A meander is almost always used as a band: along a cornice, above a door surround, as a border to a floor or ceiling, or as a tile border
- In mosaic and terrazzo. Its rectangular geometry lends itself perfectly to small tesserae or strips
- In timber and plaster. Also as a routed or cast moulding, for instance in panelling and ceiling cornices
- Setting out is everything. A meander lives on its spacing. Set the band out from the centre or from the corners so that no half motif lands in a corner — that single detail is what makes a classical border look cheap
- Variants. Single, double and broken meanders exist, as well as versions in which the motif mirrors alternately
Related terms
- Greek motif
- Ornament
- Frieze
- Cornice
- Mosaic
- Mouldings
- Re-meandering
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