DiotimosReading Desk

Art

Decorative wall panels

trumeau; dessus de porte

Trumeau here denotes a decorative wall panel, painted or sometimes mirrored; dessus de porte is an overdoor decoration.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Meaning

Related words and phrases.

Trumeau here denotes a decorative wall panel, painted or sometimes mirrored; dessus de porte is an overdoor decoration. Blaise turns artists’ landscape studies into such furnishings as well as prints, showing how a sketch enters a commercial chain rather than remaining an independent easel picture. Renaudin’s painted trumeaux later help distinguish his luxurious inner room from the shabby room where petitioners wait. Neither occurrence calls for the word’s different architectural sense of a central doorway pier.

Places to read

  1. Chapter IX, paragraph 45Frenchdes dessus de portes et des trumeaux: Overdoors and decorative wall panels. Blaise derives these products from the artists’ sketches.
  2. Chapter XXI, paragraph 25Frenchdes trumeaux peints: painted wall panels. Decorative panels are listed with porcelain, gilt fittings and upholstered furniture.