During the Victorian Era what was the purpose of the ceiling medallions?

Question

Were they used for something other than decoration?

Answer 1

Plaster work denoted the wealth of the owners. The more elaborate, the greater the social standing. Ceilings were considered one more surface to decorate, one more way to impress. Beautiful ceilings were throughout the world in all eras, including Roman, Egyptian Mayan and Greek. The Victorians had the added advantage of elaborate wallpaper designs with the onset of more elaborate printing presses and hand made papers. Wall paper hangers could do extremely elaborate work with just one paper, as long as it included borders in the pattern. The ceiling medallions in plaster had the added benefit of reducing the risk of fire directly above the chandelier, by being less flammable than paper. The more ornate it was, the less likely it was to catch fire, giving the inhabitants of the room time to put it out or to escape should there be a flare up. They were also useful in camoflaging the hardware and ropes of the chandeliers, which had to be lowered to be lit. An interesting side note is that even after electrifying houses, many times the electricity would only be on for a few hours a day, hence the need for bi- fuel lights. One globe twisted up was for gas lights, the one pointing down was for electric. If you did not live in a city that supplied gas to your home, you bought a carbon gas manufacturing plant that would have it's own stone or brick building for the manufacture of carbon gas. I believe they burned coal, but have not personally investigated the issue. At any rate, the ceiling plasters in Victorian houses were not more elaborate than previous eras with the exception of the Adams era fter the War for Independence. He was a very moderate New Englander of Puritan extraction and the vogue became more severe plain decorating.
In all decoration, the idea is to play up that which is considered valuable and therefore, highlight it in some way. Chandeliers then as now could be an extremely expensive item, since crystal is so fragile and difficult to make and ship.
All lights have concealed hardware, and the medallion gives a nice finish to the opening.

Answer 2

Victorian Ceiling Medallions

Answer 3

From the beginning the purpose of the ceiling medallions was purely decorative.
Ceiling medallions were used as an independent decorative ceiling elements.

Answer 4

No it did no longer. It became particularly repressed. The Victorians even placed trousers on table legs and bathed blidnfold. hundreds of adult males signed a purity pledge by using a subculture throughout which adult males have been envisioned to be chaste too for the 1st time following outrage on the regular public wellness acts which focused woman prostitutes. there have been greater prosecutions for homosexuality in that element than there have been ever till now. It became on the top of the Victorian era that sexuality blossomed with the upward thrust of feminism and the Oscar Wilde trial inflicting a feeling of unity among male homosexuals.

Answer 5

Decoration - but they were not only Victorian. They also appear in great (and some lesser) houses of the 18th century

Answer 6

And the medallion was used to denote formal rooms

Answer 7

No...purely decoration. like most everything else in the Victorian era.."gaudy" was "in".