pediment. Low-pitched triangular gable following the roof-slopes over a portico or façade in Classical architecture, formed with raked cornices of the same section as that of the horizontal entablature at its base and mitring with it in part. Doric examples often omit the mutules under the sloping cornices. The triangular tympanum framed by the raking and horizontal cornices was the field left plain or embellished with sculpture in high relief. Greek or Greek Revival pediments were lower in pitch than Roman examples. Pediments may crown subordinate features such as door-ways, niches, windows, etc., and in such cases are termed fronton. The triangular pediment is the most usual, but the segmental pediment was evolved in Antique Roman architecture in ad C1, and found on buildings connected with the worship of Isis, a goddess associated with the crescent-moon. Types of pediment include:broken: with gap in the middle of the lower horizontal cornice and with raking cornices stopping before they can meet, so having no apex; broken-apex: with raking sides too short to meet at the apex, also called open or open-topped; broken-base: with the horizontal base lacking a middle section, also called open-bed, often occurring in C18 door-cases with fanlights breaking upwards into the lower cornice; scrolled: open-topped segmental pediment with segmental tops curling inwards as scrolls, or with the tops in the form of two ogees ending in scrolls, called bonnet-scroll, goose-neck, or swan-neck.

Bibliography

J. Curl (2001, 2002a)

ped·i·ment / ˈpedəmənt/ • n. the triangular upper part of the front of a building in classical style, typically surmounting a portico of columns. ∎  a similar feature surmounting a door, window, front, or other part of a building in another style. ∎  Geol. a broad, gently sloping expanse of rock debris extending outward from the foot of a mountain slope, esp. in a desert.DERIVATIVES: ped·i·men·tal / ˌpedəˈmentl/ adj.ped·i·ment·ed adj.

pediment

pediment
A. triangular gable-like part crowning a façade XVII;

B. base, foundation XVIII. Earlier pedament, pedement, refash. of periment (XVI), prob. deformation of PYRAMID. Sense B is due to direct assoc. with L. pēs, ped- -FOOT and -MENT, and the present form simulates derivation from these elements.

pediment(concave slope, waning slope) A surface of low relief, partly covered by a skin of rock debris, which is concave-upward and slopes at a low angle (normally less than 5°) from the base of a mountain zone or scarp. Classically it is developed and has been investigated in the arid and semi-arid regions of the western USA. Pediments may coalesce to form a pediplain.

pediment (concave slope, waning slope) Surface of low relief, partly covered by a skin of rock debris, that is concave-upward and slopes at a low angle (normally less than 5°) from the base of a mountain zone or scarp. Classically it is developed and has been investigated in the arid and semi-arid regions of the western USA.