The Collaborative International Dictionary
Strapwork \Strap"work`\, n. (Arch.) A kind of ornament consisting of a narrow fillet or band folded, crossed, and interlaced.
Wiktionary
n. (context arts historical English) A stylized representation of strips or bands of curling leather parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings and often interwoven.
Wikipedia
In the history of art and design, strapwork is a stylised representation in ornament of leather straps, consisting of flattened strips or bands of curling leather, parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings, and often interwoven in a geometric pattern.
Strapwork is a frequent element of grotesques — arabesque or candelabra figures filled with fantastical creatures, garlands and other elements—which were a frequent decorative motif in 16th-century Mannerism, and revived in the 19th century and which may appear on walls—painted, in frescos, carved in wood, or moulded in plaster or stucco — or in graphic work.
Usage examples of "strapwork".
The rectangular bedroom had a low strapwork ceiling, oak-paneled walls and a fireplace framed in stone.
It was a truly remarkable piece, made of alabaster and black, white, and gray marble, and decked with strapwork, acanthus scrolls, and garlands of musical instruments and flowers.
Flames were licking up over the gallery already, bright on the wooden railings and the heavy strapwork shutters.
The hall was cleared in five minutes, and Rhion, leaning wearily against the strapwork marble column that supported the gallery, half-smiled to himself.
Devil all done in a kind of strapwork, as though his limbs and things were long tongues.
The filtered pink glow of the night light showed him the room they had shared so many nights, the tumbled shadows of the bed, with her dark braids lying like tasseled black ropes against the iridescent gleam of the starry quilt, the soft, waxy sheen of the table, and the thin edge of gilt on the strapwork of her jewel box.
Below them was a purple velvet needlework box with gilded strapwork mounts, and beside it a tissue-encased roll of cloth, which Sophie took to the table and carefully unrolled.