Chimera - architecture

Description

Chimera with the head of hollering dog. The eerie quality of this grotesque figure is enhanced by the patina of age.

Additional information

In architecture, gargoyles, or gurgoyles (from the French gargouille, originally the throat or gullet, cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from root gar, to swallow, the word representing the gurgling sound of water), are the carved terminations to a spout which conveys water away from the gutters. A similar type of sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function is called a chimera, although these are typically referred to as gargoyles or more simply: grotesques. When commonly used, grotesque means strange, fantastic, ugly or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe shapes and distorted forms. Gargoyles and chimeras are mostly grotesque imaginative figures.