Strapwork

The fitting work is a decorative element for rooms or buildings.

Description

It is a weak plastic, relief-like surface ornament of the Renaissance, which appears attached by imitating nail heads. The belt-like ornament (derived from the rolling plant) collected in a symmetrical arrangement by riveted metal fitting.

In conjunction with curled ribbons it appears in the roll factory, it is usually framed by scrollwork, often mixed with this. To decorate fitting and scrollwork, cartilage and ear plant walls, altars and pulpits. Together with obelisks and volutes, they form the tail work.

The strapwork goes back to the Antwerp sculptor, architect and ornament engraver Cornelis Floris. He developed many new forms of ornament, which spread through the pattern books of Vredeman de Vries, but could even be altered and shaped mid-16th century from the strapwork the Floris style named after him.

In the late 16th century it was developed in the Netherlands and then spread mainly in Germany.