knop

noun

1. A knob, usually ornamental

   “The thin shaft of each stick, composed of two cylinders on either side of a central knop, is engraved with a scrollwork pattern known as vermicule for its wormlike appearance.”

   “In the thirteenth century come the chalices of the treasuries of Troyes and Orléans, the one in the latter having been dug up with its paten. They are of very simple design, squat in outline, with a circular foot and a gadrooned knop; the same design occurs in the fourteenth century, on the chalice in the Bordeaux Treasury.”

2. A finial, or swelling termination

   “In the three upper elements, the knop-finial-fillet, both masters use all three squares from the base plan forming widths of 1:2:√2 (another pleasing rhythm). In the gable over the window the finials have width in the ratio of √2:4:2. The elements on the pinnacle relate to those on the gable as 1:√2, 1:2 and √2:2.”

3. A tuft or overthickened bunch of looped or twisted yarn

   “The thick places are created by winding effect yarn around the core yarn. We can distinguish the length of the knop L, its thickness D, the distance between them Q, and the nominal diameter of continuously twisted component yarns d. The sum of the distance between the knops and the length of a knop is the stitch of this kind of fancy yarn.”

4. A closed bud or bud-like, swelling protuberance of a plant, or the representation thereof in the decorative arts

   “On these shawl borders the knop and flower are often also combined, the knop becoming the cone or Cypress-like trunk of a tree, the branches of which fam out like the fronds of the Hom. [Plate III., fig. 6]. In some Indian and Persian carpets the knop or cone throws out graceful Hom fronds, one on either side, from the ends of which hangs a large flower, presenting the alternation of a branching cone and flower.”