Dictionary

modillion en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian modiglione. Doublet of moellon.

Meanings

1. A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column, often underneath a cornice, and usually smaller and more ornamental in function than a corbel.
   • It is a large square structure, two and a half stories in height, with a hipped roof rising above a handsome cornice with prominent modillions and surmounted by a balustraded belvedere. 1920, Frank Cousins, Phil M. Riley, The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company:
   • The familiar classic console or modillion is an example: although in general contour it is well adapted to its function as a supporting bracket, embedded in, and projecting from a wall, yet the scroll-like ornament with which its sides are embellished gives it the appearance of not entering the wall at all, but of being stuck against it in some miraculous manner. 1922, Claude Fayette Bragdon, “Unity and Polarity”, in The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture, Essay II:

Forms

Deriveds

intermodillion · modillioned

Relateds

moellon · corbel · mutule

Translations (2)

de Kragstein (corbel) (Translations) · de Modillon (Translations)