What is a meander band?
A meander band is the continuous, right-angled folded ribbon ornament that runs as a decorative strip along a cornice, a frieze or the edge of a floor. The individual ribbon elements it is built from are known in Dutch as pluiken.
Where the word meander covers the whole motif, the band elements are the separate links that make it up.
The motif
The meander is one of the oldest ornamental forms in European architecture. The pattern consists of a single band that folds back on itself at right angles, producing a rhythmic, seemingly endless image. It goes by several names: meander, Greek key, or à la grecque.
Because the pattern has no beginning and no end, it lends itself to borders and framing — a band can be carried over any length.
Where you find it
- Cornices and friezes on classical and neoclassical facades
- Plaster mouldings along ceiling edges in nineteenth-century interiors
- Floors in mosaic, terrazzo and tilework, as a border along the room edge
- Metalwork in railings and balcony balustrades
In restoration
Anyone having to make good a meander band runs into the setting out. The pattern has to resolve symmetrically at the corners, and that only works if you set out the band width and the pitch over the full length beforehand — adjusting the pitch fractionally if needed, rather than cutting a half module off in the corner. So measure the existing work in several places: old plaster and old tiling are rarely exactly regular.
Related terms
- Meander
- Ornament
- Frieze
- Cornice
- Moulding
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