A swag is an ornamental motif representing a festoon of drapery, flowers, fruit, foliage or husks suspended between two points so that it hangs in a graceful curve. The term is used for both carved and painted ornament and for real fabric arrangements at the head of a window, and swags are often tied with ribbons or hung from rosettes, rings or masks.
The swag derives from classical antiquity, when garlands were hung on temples and altars, and it was revived in Renaissance and Baroque decoration. In England, late seventeenth-century carvers such as Grinling Gibbons produced magnificent limewood swags of fruit and flowers for panelling and chimneypieces. The motif reached a peak of refinement in Neo-classical design from the 1760s, when Robert Adam and his contemporaries used delicate husk and drapery swags on ceilings, friezes, furniture, silver, mirrors and Wedgwood jasperware. Swags appear widely in Georgian and later giltwood mirrors, plasterwork and ormolu mounts. In window treatments, fabric swags and tails became fashionable in the Regency period and remain popular in traditional schemes. The quality of carving or casting is a key indicator of fine work.
