What is "guilloche"

Guilloche \Guil"loche`\, n. [F. guillochis; -- said to be fr. Guillot, the inventor of a machine for carving it.] (Arch.)

1. An ornament in the form of two or more bands or strings twisted over each other in a continued series, leaving circular openings which are filled with round ornaments.

2. In ornamental art, any pattern made by interlacing curved lines.

n. 1 A fine engraved pattern of spirals, intertwining bands, etc. 2 The tool used to create such work.

n. an architectural decoration formed by two intersecting wavy bands

Guilloché (or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a rose engine lathe. This mechanical technique improved on more time-consuming designs achieved by hand and allowed for greater delicacy, precision, and closeness of line, as well as greater speed.

The term "guilloche" is also used more generally for repetitive architectural patterns of intersecting or overlapping spirals or other shapes, as used in the Ancient Near East, classical Greece and Rome and neo-classical architecture, and Early Medieval interlace decoration in Anglo-Saxon art and elsewhere. Medieval Cosmatesque stone inlay designs with two ribbons winding around a series of regular central points are very often called guilloche. These central points are often blank, but may contain a figure, such as a rose. These senses are a back-formation from the engraving guilloché, so called because the architectural motifs resemble the designs produced by later guilloché techniques.