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A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French croc, meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's crook-shaped crosier.

Description

Crockets, in the form of stylized carvings of curled leaves, buds or flowers, are used at regular intervals to decorate (for example) the sloping edges of spires, finials, pinnacles, and wimpergs.

As ornaments

When crockets decorate the capitals of columns, these are called crocket capitals. This element is also used as an ornament on furniture and metalwork in the Gothic style.

Examples

• All Souls College – Oxford
• Canterbury Cathedral
• Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral – Paris
• León Cathedral – Spain
• Duke Chapel

References

1. "Crocket | architecture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
2. "Definition of CROCKET". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
3. "crocket, architecture". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-09-08. crocket, in architecture, a small, independent, sharply projecting medieval ornament, usually occurring in rows, and decorated with foliage. In the late 12th century, when it first appeared, the crocket had the form of a ball-like bud, with a spiral outline, similar to an uncurling fern frond; but in the later Gothic period it took the form of open, fully developed leaves that by the 15th century had evolved into richly involuted forms. Crockets are used especially on the inclined edges of spires, pinnacles, and gables and are also found on capitals and cornices.
4. Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche. "Of the Decorated English Style". The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. Publio Kiadó Kft. ISBN 9789633819135. Retrieved 7 March 2023. The doorways of this style are frequently enriched with pedimental and ogee-shaped canopies, ornamented with crockets and finials; of which the north doorway of Exeter Cathedral and the south doorway of Everdon Church, Northamptonshire, may be cited as examples.
5. "Capital | architecture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-09-08.

External links

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Crocket" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 477.

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