Boss (2)
Boss
a projecting ornament placed at the intersections of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat; also used as a termination to weather-mouldings of doors, windows, etc., called then a Corbel or Dripstone Termination; and in various other situations, either as an ornamental stop, or finishing, to mouldings, or to cover them where they intersect each other; but their principal application is to vaulted ceilings. In Norman work the vaults are most commonly without bosses until the latter part of the style, and when used they are generally not very prominent nor very richly carved. In the succeeding styles they are used in profusion, though less abundantly in the Early English than in the Decorated and Perpendicular, and are generally elaborately carved. The Early English bosses are usually sculptured with foliage characteristic of the style, among which small figures and animals are sometimes introduced, but occasionally a small circle of mouldings, correspondings with those of the ribs, is used in the place of a carved boss. In the Decorated style the bosses usually consist of foliage, heads, animals, etc., or of foliage combined with heads and animals, and sometimes shields charged with armorial bearings are used. Many of the Perpendicular bosses bear a strong resemnblance to the Decorated, but there is generally the same difference in the execution of the foliage that is found in all the other features of the style. Shields with armorial bearings are used abundantly in Perpendicular work, and there is considerably greater variation in the bosses of this style than anny other; sometimes they are made to represent a flat sculptured ornament attached to the under-side of the ribs; sometimes they resemble small pendants, which are occasionally pierced, as in the south porch of Dursley Church, Gloucestershire, but it is impossible to enumerate all the varieties.
