BALUSTER (through the Fr. from the Ital. balaustro, so-called from a supposed likeness to the

See also:

• FLOWER (Lat. flos, floris; Fr. fleur)
• FLOWER, SIB

flower of the OaX ab inov, or

See also:

• WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild

See also:

• POMEGRANATE

pomegranate; the word has been corrupted in

See also:

• ENGLISH

English into " banister ")  , a small moulded shaft, square or circular, in stone or wood and sometimes in metal, supporting the coping of a parapet or the rail of a staircase, an assemblage of them being known as a balustrade . The earliest examples are those shown in the bas-reliefs representing the Assyrian palaces, where they were employed as window balustrades and apparently had Ionic capitals . They do not seem to have been known to either the Greeks or the Romans, but early examples are found in the balconies in the palaces at Venice and Verona . In the hands of the Italian revivalists they became features of the greatest importance, and were largely employed for window balconies and roof parapets . The term " baluster shaft " is given to the shaft dividing a window in Saxon architecture . In the south transept of the abbey at St Albans, England, are some of these shafts, supposed to have been taken from the old Saxon church . Norman bases and capitals have been added, together with plain cylindrical Norman shafts .