plateresque

[ plat-uh-resk ]

adjective

, (sometimes initial capital letter)

1. noting or pertaining to a 16th-century style of Spanish architecture characterized by profuse applications of delicate low-relief Renaissance ornament to isolated parts of building exteriors.

Word History and Origins

Origin of plateresque¹

1835–45; < Spanish plateresco, equivalent to plater ( o ) silversmith ( plat ( a ) silver; platina + -ero < Latin -ārius -ary ) + -esco -esque; so called because the heavy ornamentation of the style suggested decorated silverwork

Example Sentences

This organ, its loft, and the pulpit against it are all very elaborate examples of Plateresque Renaissance work.

From Project Gutenberg

That to the right has a fine artesonado ceiling, and that to the left is decorated in a species of Moorish plateresque style.

From Project Gutenberg

The style of the lower stalls of Toledo cathedral is good Plateresque.

From Project Gutenberg

The clasps are also Plateresque, and prove, together with the border, that the triptych was restored about this time.

From Project Gutenberg

The sixteenth-century bordering to the panels is in the manner known as Plateresque.

From Project Gutenberg