modillion

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian modiglione. Doublet of moellon.

Pronunciation

Noun

modillion (plural modillions)

  1. (architecture) A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column, often underneath a cornice, and usually smaller and more ornamental in function than a corbel.
    • 1920, Frank Cousins, Phil M. Riley, The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia‎[1], Boston: Little, Brown, and Company:
      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.
    • 1922, Claude Fayette Bragdon, “Unity and Polarity”, in The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture, Essay II:
      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.

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