A caryatid is composed of a columns or a pilaster shaped as a women supporting an entablature.
Since Classical Antiquity, this piece of decoration had a stylistic evolution : from the Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion (on the Acropolis at Athens) were they had a hieratic posture, to the lascivious attitude of the "Belle Epoque" period.
The "canephore" represent a woman with a baskets on her head, and a "half-figure" describes a caryatid forming a pilaster below the bust.
In architecture, the male version of the caryatid is called "Atlantes" or "Telamon". In ancient Greek Atlas meant "the carrier", it also refers to the mythology : Atlas was a Titan who was sentenced by Zeus to hold the sky for eternity.
Atlantes were groups of statues used in Greek temple. In Roman temple they were called Telamon.
