flat-boarded

Updated: May 22, 2025

From the square or three-sided spaces left between the octagons there project from among acanthus leaves richly carved and gilt pendants. In each of the twenty-seven octagons there is painted on a flat-boarded ground a large swan, each wearing on its neck the red velvet and gold collar made by Dona Isabel for the real swans in the tank outside.

Walter Crum Watson - Portuguese Architecture