In architecture, a cornice is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element. Examples include the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ped
Illustrations of various examples of ancient Egyptian cornices, all of them having cavettos
Cornice of Maison Carrée (Nîmes, France), a Roman temple in the Corinthian order, with dentils nearest the wall.
A wide box cornice with lookouts
Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice, or entablature if supported by columns. In a
Cornice
…cornice is the topmost element of the entablature, which consists (from top to bottom) of the cornice, the frieze, and the architrave. Where a triangular pediment is above the entablature, the cornice continues all round the triangle, the two sides being "raking cornices". The vertical space below the cornice is…
Types of pediment; "curved" and "broken" examples at the lower right
Neoclassical pediment of the Madeleine Church, Paris, with sculpture (1826–1834) by Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
Open pediments on windows at the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, begun 1534
Open pediment in a fresco from Boscoreale, 43-30 BC