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BALUSTER (through the Fr. from the It...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 297 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BALUSTER (through the Fr. from the Ital. balaustro, so-called from a supposed likeness to the See also:flower of the OaX ab inov, or See also:wild See also:pomegranate; the word has been corrupted in See also:English into " banister ")  , a small moulded See also:shaft, square or circular, in See also:stone or See also:wood and sometimes in See also:metal, supporting the See also:coping of a See also:parapet or the See also:rail of a See also:staircase, an assemblage of them being known as a See also:balustrade . The earliest examples are those shown in the bas-reliefs representing the See also: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 See also:Romans, but See also:early examples are found in the balconies in the palaces at See also:Venice and See also:Verona . In the hands of the See also:Italian revivalists they became features of the greatest importance, and were largely employed for window balconies and roof parapets . The See also:term " See also:baluster shaft " is given to the shaft dividing a window in Saxon See also:architecture . In the See also:south See also:transept of the See also:abbey at St Albans, See also:England, are some of these shafts, supposed to have been taken from the old Saxon See also:church . See also:Norman bases and capitals have been added, together with See also:plain cylindrical Norman shafts .

End of Article: BALUSTER (through the Fr. from the Ital. balaustro, so-called from a supposed likeness to the flower of the OaX ab inov, or wild pomegranate; the word has been corrupted in English into " banister ")
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JEAN BALUE (c. 1421-1491)
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