foil

views updated

foil. In Gothic tracery any circular lobe tangent to the inner side of a larger arc or arch, meeting other lobes in points called cusps projecting inwards from the arch: prefixes are used to describe how many foils occur—trefoil (3), quatrefoil (4), cinquefoil (5), sexfoil (6), multifoil, etc. A quatrefoil, therefore, has four lobes, separated by cusps, in the shape of a flower with four leaves the axes of which are vertical and horizontal. Bands of quatrefoils were much used for enrichment during the Perpendicular period. When placed with the axes set diagonally, quatrefoils are called cross-quarters.

More From encyclopedia.com