Vignette

A running ornament consisting of leaves and tendrils, used in Gothic architecture.

A decorative design, originally representing vine branches or tendrils, at the head of a chapter, of a manuscript or printed book, or in a similar position; hence, by extension, any small picture in a book; hence, also, as such pictures are often without a definite bounding line, any picture, as an engraving, a photograph, or the like, which vanishes gradually at the edge.

To make, as an engraving or a photograph, with a border or edge insensibly fading away.

a brief literary description

a small illustrative sketch (as sometimes placed at the beginning of chapters in books)