Plafond

For plafonds in joints, see synovial joint.

Plafond Allegory of Summer by Jerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter, 1684–86, oil on canvas and panel, Wilanów Palace, Warsaw.

A plafond (French for "ceiling"), in a broad sense, is a (flat, vaulted or dome) ceiling.

A plafond can be a product of monumental painting or sculpture. Picturesque plafonds can be painted directly on plaster (as a fresco, oil, glutinous, synthetic paints), on a canvas attached to a ceiling (panel) or a mosaic.

As a decorative feature of churches and staterooms, plafonds were popular from the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century. Designs of this period typically used the illusion of a break in the ceiling showing the architectural structure behind, strongly foreshortened figures, architectural details and/or the open sky.