rocaille

American  

[roh-kahy, raw-kah-y^uh] / roʊˈkaɪ, rɔˈkɑ yə /

noun

1. Fine Arts. any of the fantastic ornamental, often asymmetrical, combinations characteristic of the Rococo period, consisting of rock, shell, and plant forms combined with artificial forms, esp C -curves.

---

rocaille British  

/ rɒˈkaɪ /

noun

1. decorative rock or shell work, esp as ornamentation in a rococo fountain, grotto, or interior

---

Etymology

Origin of rocaille

1855–60; < French: pebble-work, derivative of roc rock ¹

Example Sentences

The style was called rococo�itself an onomatopoeic image of the art �from the French word rocaille, meaning fancywork in rocks and shells.

From Time Magazine Archive

Most of the time it is turgid rocaille, nothing more.

From Time Magazine Archive

The elder Caffieri was, indeed, the most consummate practitioner of the style rocaille, which he constantly redeemed from its mannered conventionalism by the ease and mastery with which he treated it.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" by Various

This was in keeping with the delicate French rocaille tradition on which Papillon was nurtured; to him any other contemporary style of book decoration was evidence of bad taste.

From John Baptist Jackson 18th-Century Master of the Color Woodcut by Kainen, Jacob

After the death of its owner society, in a fit of madness, plunged into the rocaille.

From The House in Good Taste by Wolfe, Elsie de