Metal or wooden bars, rods, or framing used to consolidate and reinforce buildings or other structures. Uses include sustaining slender columns, as the supporting framework for a tent, canopy, or hanging members, and in tracery. For the skeletons or framework that support the plastic material of sculptures during modeling, use "armatures (sculpture components)."
Source: AAT
http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300263491
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