What is a multifoil arch?
A multifoil arch (Dutch: schulpboog) is an arch whose inner edge (the intrados) is made up of a series of shell-shaped or lobe-shaped segments. The edge of the arch is therefore not smooth but scalloped in a wave-like pattern. The Dutch word schulp is an old word for shell. Sometimes the uppermost, central segment comes to a slight point, making it resemble an ogee arch.
In Dutch the multifoil arch is also called a veelpasboog or waaierboog. It is related to the trefoil arch (cloverleaf arch), but has more lobes and is usually more lavish and richly decorated. In English it is also known as a cusped arch.
How to recognise it:
- more than three lobes along the inner edge;
- lobes often in a regular rhythm and symmetrical about the crown;
- usually decorative: the lobes are worked in stone, stucco or timber within a supporting arch.
Application
Multifoil arches are best known from Islamic architecture (including Moorish architecture in Spain and North Africa) and from the architecture of India, including Mughal buildings and Hindu temples. Through those influences you also find the form in Surinamese temples and mosques, and in nineteenth-century buildings in the so-called Orientalist or Neo-Moorish style in Europe.
Structurally: the lobes themselves usually carry little. The actual load is carried by the arch behind or above them. In restoration it is therefore important to know which part is load-bearing and which part is ornament.
If you want to make one yourself, for example in a plasterboard interior wall, as a passageway or niche:
- Draw the shape at full size and make a template from sheet material.
- Build the supporting structure first (studwork, lintel) and then work out the scalloped shape as a finish.
- For curved parts, use flexible plasterboard or several thin layers of sheet material.
Related Terms
- Trefoil arch
- Cloverleaf arch
- Ogee arch
- Round arch
- Basket-handle arch
- Blind arch
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