Repositorium, R. (repono, to lay down). A side-board for plates and dishes in a dining-room; it was divided into several stories, and formed a kind of dinner-wagon; and many examples were richly ornamented, and inlaid with variegated woods, or tortoise-shell and silver, &c.
Repoussé, Fr. Metal-work hammered out from behind into ornaments in relief.
Requiem, Chr. The Roman Missa pro Defunctis, or service for the dead, beginning with the anthem “Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.”
Rerebrace, O. E. (for the French arrière bras). Armour for the upper part of the arm.
Rerebrake, O. E. A pommel at the back of a saddle to support the horseman under the shock of a tilting-bout. (See Meyrick, vol. ii. p. 137.)
Reredos, Chr. (1) The wall or screen at the back of an altar. In the primitive churches, in which the bishop’s seat was at the back of the altar, there was no reredos. Its introduction dates from the period (about the 12th century) when the episcopal seats and the choirs were established in front of the altars. (2) The Rood-screen was sometimes so called. (3) The open hearth was so called. Hollinshed relates that, before the invention of chimneys, “each man made his fire against a reredosse in the hall, where he dined and dressed his meat.”
Rere-supper (Fr. arrière souper). The last meal taken in the day; 15th century.
Resins. (See Amber, Copal, Damara, Mastic, &c.)
Ressaunt, O. E. Arch. An obsolete term applied to members of architecture inflected or curved like an Ogee moulding.
Rest. In Music, a character denoting silence for a length denoted by the character used to express the rest, i. e. semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, &c.