ArtPage on Finials

finial - A small, decorative appendage that finishes an element of architecture, furniture, etc., especially at the peak of an arching structure. One common design is knoblike with a foliate texture.

A common site is the terminating ornament found at the top of many lampshades.

A related, and more obscure word, "aglet" is any plastic or metal tip at the ends of shoelaces. It is usually a conical or cylindrical object keeping the end of the lace from unraveling.

Examples:

Iran, Luristan, Iron Age II-III (about 1000-650 BCE), Standard Finial, bronze, height 8 inches (20.3 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Greece, Attic, Grave stele of a youth and a little girl with finial in the form of a sphinx, c. 530 BCE, Archaic, marble, height 13 feet 10 11/16 inches (423.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See stele.

American, New York City, Four-Column Pedestal Card Table with Pineapple Finial, 1815-1820, mahogany, tulip poplar, pine woods, 29 1/2 x 36 1/2 x 18 3/8 inches (74.93 x 92.71 x 46.67 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See furniture.

Moshe Zabari (Israeli, 1935-), Torah Crown, New York, 1959, raised and forged silver, pearls, The Jewish Museum, NY. "This unusual Torah ornament combines both the traditional finials (rimmonim) and crown into a single hybrid work fabricated of silver and pearls. When carried in procession, the pearls shake and the silver arcs quiver to create movement and sound, like a kinetic sculpture." See Jewish art.

Also see crown, harmika, lantern, oculus, pendant, perpendicular, pillar, and yasti.