Also known as a polylobed or polyfoil arch, a cusped arch is an arch with the arch's underside lined with cusps. Cusps are "pointed projections formed by two intersecting arches."1 Adding cusps to the baradari's arches, creates a row of stylized floral shapes. At Humayun's Garden Tomb, this stylized floral shape is also seen in Humayun's Tomb's kangura and the baradari's chini-khana niches.
1. Francis D.K. Ching, A Visual Dictionary of Architecture, 2nd ed. (Hoboken: Wiley, 2011), 275.
A Cusped Arch
Cusped Arches Springing from Balusters
Cusped Arches on the Baradari's Porch
Petersen, Andrew. Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. London: Routledge, 1996, 198-205.
