Over door
A supraporte ( Latin supra 'that is above / above' , 'the upper', porta 'gate' , 'door'; also Italian sopraporte or French Dessus-de-porte ) is a painting or relief placed above a door or portal . It can hang freely or be incorporated into the door frame. As a rule, these are unique items, with which the respective craftsman also set a monument.
The overgate occurs in many architectural styles. It is particularly popular in palaces and residences of the Renaissance , Baroque and Rococo periods , and later also in town houses of Historicism and Art Nouveau . Supraports can contain a coat of arms or a cartridge , but also other motifs. Painted supraports are mostly thematically related to the room in which they hang or to which the door leads. Several overraports in a room can be related to one another or form a reference system with the rest of the artistic design of the room.
The area in a gable triangle or in the arched field of a portal is called a tympanum .
Crowning a doorway with a decorative overlay was common in the Bergisches Land at the time of the Bergisch Baroque . Middle-class houses from the old days still have these decorations today.
