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Patera Corte seconda del Milion e porticato del teatro Venezia.jpg, Patera in the ''Corte seconda del Milion'' court and the romanesque archway ''Sotoportego del Teatro'' in Venice.
Chiesa di Santa Margherita Venice detail.JPG, Detail of the church Santa Margherita in Venice.
Lunetta con uccello pescatore Fontego dei Turchi Venezia.jpg, Lunette above the entrance to the
In architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
, patera (pl. ''paterae'') is an ornamental circular or oval bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
disc. The patera is usually used to decorate frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
s and walls, and to interrupt moldings. Patera is also used in furniture-making. It can be carved, incised, inlaid, or even painted.
Overview
The patera is found in theancient Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one ...
and in almost all later western styles of architecture
An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...
. The patera is used both within the civil and church architecture is usually made of marble or Istrian stone
Istrian stone, ''pietra d'Istria'', the characteristic group of building stones in the architecture of Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, is a dense type of impermeable limestones that was quarried in Istria, nowadays Croatia; between Portorož and Pu ...
. It has a variable diameter between 20 and 80 cm, while the thickness is around 10 cm. The subject represented in the bas-relief is generally of floral or animal type, but there are also figures symbolizing trades or people. Being mainly a decorative element, the patera may also perform an apotropaic
Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superst ...
function to keep away evil spirits.
Gallery
Fondaco dei Turchi
The Fondaco dei Turchi ( Venetian: ''Fontego dei Turchi'', tr, Türk Hanı) is a Veneto-Gothic style palazzo, later on named as the Turks' Inn, on the Grand Canal of Venice, northeast Italy.
It was described by Augustus Hare in the 19th cen ...
reconstructed in neobyzantine stile by Federico Berchet AD 1869 in Venice.
Chiesa dei Carmini ingresso laterale 2 Venezia.jpg, Entrance to the Carmini church in Venice.
Volto Santo Rio tera Maddalena Venezia.jpg, ''Volto Santo'' on the ''Strada Nuova'' in Cannaregio Venice.
References
Architectural sculpture Visual motifs Amulets Talismans {{architecturalelement-stub