Poleyns, Fr. (See Genouillières.)
Pollubrum and Polubrum, R. An old term for which there was substituted later on malluvium, aquimanale, aquiminarium, trulleum; it was a kind of basin for washing the hands, the χέρνιψ, χερόνιπτρον of the Greeks.
Polos, Gr. A kind of sun-dial. (See Horologium.)
Polyandrion, Chr. (Gr. πολυ-άνδριον). A common sepulchre in which more than four bodies were buried. (See Loculus.)
Polychord. An instrument for application to the pianoforte for coupling together the strings of two octave notes.
Polychromy. Colouring statuary, bas-reliefs, and architecture; to be distinguished from forming them of variously-coloured materials. This was not done by painting with an opaque colour, but a sort of staining of the surface by thin, transparent colouring matter. M. de Quincy states that the fine preservation of the surface of some antique statues, such as the Apollo Belvedere, Hercules of Glycon, and Venus de Medici, is attributable to the use of wax colouring. Stones of various colours were used to represent different parts of the figure, and in busts of the Roman emperors the dress is frequently of coloured marble, while the flesh is of white. [Consult Redford’s Ancient Sculpture.]
Polyhedron. A solid with many faces or planes.
Polyptyca, Gr. (πολύ-πτυχα). (1) Tablets, a sufficient number of which are put together to form what we now call a note-book. (2) A polyptych; a picture with several compartments. (Cf. Diptych.)
Polystyle, Arch. Surrounded by several rows of columns, as in Moorish architecture. The porticoes of a Greek temple had never more than ten columns in front (decastyle).
