Featured Is this an antique architectural piece or?

I've had this for a while because I could never really figure out what it was. I think the wire and nails were added later and this piece came off of something else. Is she really preggers? Strange but cool piece for sure. any help identifying her would greatly be appreciated.

I am so excited for a 3-day weekend, I hope everyone enjoys it!

 

Looks like the wood may be mahogany that someone spray painted.
From the size against your hand, it probably came off a piece of furniture rather than an architectural piece. (I'm equating architectural to a building.)

Maybe @Ghopper1924 @James Conrad or @verybrad can help

 

Ah, that does really make more sense. Thank you!

 

Agree, thanks.

 

Much of furniture construction and adornment comes from architecture. She is a caryatid. She does look somewhat pregnant but maybe just Rubanesque. The only reference to pregnant caryatids I could find was on this antique marriage chest.



Source:
https://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/16thc_renaissance_marriage_chest_pregnant_caryatid/as208a1130

 

She's a half caryatid formed to create a bracket or corner corbel. Half caryatids date to the Renaissance, while full caryatids date to antiquity, like at the Erecthion in Athens. It's not a surprise that she should appear pregnant, as many of these figures had a fertility subtext along with their purported function, which was to carry the weight of the architectural element (balcony, lintel, etc.) above.

 

Yes, I get that.
But copying from architecture to make or adorn furniture - does that make it an architectural piece?
I was thinking an architectural piece means it comes off a building.
I don't mind being corrected.

 

Perhaps the word architectonic would serve better. It refers to principles or elements of architecture applied to different things. Architectural refers directly to architecture.

In other words, taking an architectural element such as a corbel and applying it to a wood chest would be to use this element in an architectonic way.

The difference is actually slight. Most people use the terms interchangeably.

So in my view, no, the piece is not architectural; using it on a chest is an architectonic use of the element on a piece of furniture.

Just IMO.

 

Ahh a new word that unfortunately will be lost in the recesses of the brain.
Have enough trouble just pulling the 5th grade level words out and spelling them correctly with all of their letters in the right order.

 

That chest is amazing!! Ty for all of the help. I have a bunch of new words to read up on

 

a paunch - sometimes "chicken cemetery" - was at all times a sign of wealth; still is actually in regions like Sicily.

 

I just heard something like that the other day.

 

in Bavaria there's the phrase "a man without a paunch is a cripple": but there it is rather caused by beer. in Italy there is even the expression "terrone" ( earth eater) that is still used in the north for Southern Italians because they were so poor they were said to have eaten earth. today often used abusively because the etymology got lost.

 

You guys are so smart in here. It’s amazing

 

Hi,
Are two posts SPAM??????
greg