# Panelling
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{{Short description|Millwork wall covering}}
{{Redirect|Wainscot}}
[[Image:wainscotting.jpg|thumb|220px|{{cvt|39|in|adj=on}} wainscoting using {{cvt|3|in|adj=on}} [tongue and groove](/source/tongue_and_groove) pine boards]]
'''Panelling''', or '''paneling''' in the United States, is a [millwork](/source/Millwork_(building_material)) wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components.[{{cite web|title=Paneling|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/paneling|website=[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)|publisher=britannica.com|access-date=11 January 2016}}] These are traditionally interlocking [wood](/source/wood), but could be [plastic](/source/plastic) or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity to make rooms in [stone](/source/Rock_(geology)) buildings more comfortable both by [insulating](/source/Thermal_insulation) the room from the stone and reflecting [radiant heat](/source/radiant_heat) from wood fires, making heat more evenly distributed in the room. In more modern [building](/source/building)s, such panelling is often installed for [decorative purposes](/source/Interior_decoration). Panelling, such as wainscoting and boiserie in particular, may be extremely ornate and is particularly associated with 17th and 18th century [interior design](/source/interior_design), [Victorian architecture](/source/Victorian_architecture) in [Britain](/source/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland), and its international contemporaries.
== {{anchor|Wainscot panelling|Wainscot paneling}} Wainscot panelling ==
thumb|left|Simple moulded panelling on the walls of a staircase
The term '''wainscot''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|w|eɪ|n|s|k|ə|t}} {{respell|WAYN|skət}} or {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|w|eɪ|n|s|k|ɒ|t}} {{respell|WAYN|skot}}) originally applied to high quality [riven](/source/Wood_splitting) [oak](/source/oak) boards.
Wainscot oak came from large, slow-grown forest trees, and produced boards that were knot-free, low in [tannin](/source/tannin), light in weight, and easy to work with. It was preferred to home-grown oak, especially in the Netherlands and British Isles, because it was a far superior product and dimensionally stable.
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that it derives from the [Middle Low German](/source/Middle_Low_German) {{Lang|gml|wagenschot}} as well as ''wageschot'' or 'wall-board'.[{{Cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wainscot|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909233552/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wainscot|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 9, 2017|title=wainscot|date=9 September 2017|website=Oxford Dictionaries}}] ''[Johnson's Dictionary](/source/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language)'' defined it thus: {{quote|text=Wainscot [{{lang|nl|wageschot}}, Dutch], the inner wooden covering of a wall.
To wainscot [{{lang|nl|waegenschotten}}, Dutch], to line the walls with boards}}
A 'wainscot' was therefore a board of riven (and later [quarter-sawn](/source/Quarter_sawing)) oak, and wainscoting was the panelling made from it. During the 18th century, oak wainscot was almost entirely superseded for panelling in Europe by softwoods (mainly [Scots pine](/source/Scots_pine) and [Norway spruce](/source/Norway_spruce)), but the name stuck:
{{Blockquote
|text=The term wainscoting, as applied to the lining of walls, originated in a species of foreign oak of the same name, used for that purpose; and although that has long been superseded by the introduction of [fir](/source/fir) timber, the term has been continued notwithstanding the change of material.[Peter Nicholson, ''An Architectural Dictionary'', 2 Vols., London (1819).]
|author=[Peter Nicholson](/source/Peter_Nicholson_(architect))
|source=''An Architectural Dictionary'' (1819)
}}
Today the term wainscot refers commonly to the different treatment of the lower part of the wall (roughly a meter, 3–4 feet); see also [dado](/source/Dado_(architecture)).
== ''Boiserie'' ==
[[Image:Zunfthaus - Gesellschaftssaal.jpg|thumb|Elaborate ''boiseries'' in the guild hall of the ''Zunfthaus zu Kaufleuten'', [Kramgasse](/source/Kramgasse) 29, [Bern](/source/Bern)]]
'''''Boiserie''''' ({{IPA|fr|bwazʁi}}; often used in the plural '''''boiseries''''') is the French term used to define ornate and intricately carved wood panelling.[{{cite web|last1=Garay|first1=Regina|title=The Beauty of Boiserie|url=http://paintandpattern.com/boiserie/|publisher=paintandpattern.com|access-date=11 January 2016|date=June 23, 2014}}] ''Boiseries'' became popular in the latter part of the 17th century in [French](/source/France) [interior design](/source/interior_design), becoming a ''de rigueur '' feature of fashionable French interiors throughout the 18th century. Such panels were most often painted in two shades of a chosen color or in contrasting colors, with gilding reserved for the main reception rooms.[{{cite book| title=The French Interior in the 18th Century|author=Whitehead, John| publisher=Dutton Studio Books| year=1992|pages=95–7}}] The [Palace of Versailles](/source/Palace_of_Versailles) contains many fine examples of white painted ''boiseries'' with gilded mouldings installed in the reigns of [Louis XV](/source/Louis_XV) and [Louis XVI](/source/Louis_XVI).[Verlet, Pierre (1985). Le château de Versailles. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard] The panels were not confined to just the walls of a room but were used to decorate doors, frames, cupboards, and shelves also. It was standard for mirrors to be installed and framed by the carved ''boiseries'', especially above the mantelpiece of a fireplace. Paintings were also installed within ''boiseries'', above doorways or set into central panels.