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MOULDINGS
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MOULDINGS , the See also:term in See also:architecture for the decorative treatment given to projecting or receding features in See also: 7) is given. Another See also:Greek moulding of compound See also:form is the See also:bird's See also:beak (fig. 8), employed as a drip moulding above the See also:corona. Of smaller dimensions is the See also:astragal (fig. 9), a moulding invariably carved with the See also:bead and See also:reel, which in Greek See also:work is constantly used in See also:conjunction with the enriched echinus and cyma-reversa mouldings (figs. i8, 20) and below the necking of Ionic capitals: and the listel or fillet, employed chiefly in the separation of curved mouldings one from the other; in the cymatium constituting its upper termination (fig. 5), and in the Scotia (fig. 2) its upper and lower border. In Classic work generally the cavetto is only employed for the See also:apophyge under the See also:capital and over the See also:base, but in See also:Roman work, as in the See also:theatre of See also:Marcellus, it sometimes took the See also:place of the cymatium of the cornice. Although extremely simple in its form, the finest Greek moulding, and the one to which the Greeks apparently attached the greatest value, was the echinus under the See also:abacus of the Doric capital. The earliest archaic example exists in the capital of the shafts flanking the See also:tomb of See also:Agamemnon at See also:Mycenae (a, fig. Io), where it consisted of a large torus decorated with the See also:chevron (see CAPITALS), and an apophyge carved with the petals of a See also:flower; a similar decoration of the apophyge is found in two or three See also:early Doric capitals, as at See also:Paestum and, See also:Metapontum, but this is the only example known in which the echinus of the Doric capital was carved, though traces of See also:painting and See also:gilding have been found on them. Other examples showing the See also:gradual development of the echinus are shown in fig. ro; b being from the See also:temple at See also:Corinth, c from the See also:Parthenon at See also:Athens, d from the See also:portico at See also:Delos, e an early Roman example (c. 6o B.C.) of the temple at See also:Cori, and f from the theatre of Marcellus, where it nearly approaches the See also:quarter See also:round always employed in See also:late Roman work and in the See also:Renaissance. There is one other important decorative feature which forms the most characteristic feature of the bedmould of the Ionic cornice, viz. the See also:dentil cornice (fig. II), derived originally from the ends of the squared timbers which carried the cornice of the See also:primitive Ionic temple, and in the earlier stone examples copied more or less literally; it subsequently in the 4th See also:century was introduced as a part of the bedmould of the cornice of the Ionic See also:Order, the temple of See also:Minerva Polias at See also:Priene in See also:Asia See also:Minor being one of the best examples. It consists of a See also:series of projecting blocks with intervals between them equal to See also:half IIIIIIIIIillll b. ~- C I d e See also:J1 f the width of the See also:block. In the Greek Corinthian Order it was first introduced into the Choragic See also:monument of Lysicrates. It was constantly employed by the See also:Romans in their temples of the Ionic and Corinthian Orders, the finest example being in the bedmould of the temple of See also:Castor in See also:Rome, where it is twice the height of the other mouldings. In the Romanesque See also:style the mouldings consist almost entirely of rounds and hollows, the former known as the bowtel, and in See also:England, See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:Germany employed to decorate or soften the See also:angle of an See also:arch See also:mould. As the Romanesque arch frequently consisted of two or more rings of See also:arches, projecting one in front of the other, to which rings the term " order " is sometimes given, the repetition of this simple moulding constituted an ample decoration by itself, but in the See also:Norman work in England and the See also:north of France there is found the See also:constant recurrence of mouldings broken into zigzag lines and other decorations coming under the See also:head of ornamental mouldings described below. The simple bowtel (fig. 12) was retained in France far into the See also:Gothic See also:period, but in the Early See also:English style the mouldings (fig. 13) became lighter, being more boldly cut than in the Romanesque styles. Here again, as in the earlier style, each See also:ring or order is enriched with a See also:succession of alternate rounds and hollows, the latter very deeply cut, and a few small fillets. The bowtel also is brought out to an angle which is sometimes emphasized by a small fillet; this is sometimes called the See also:keel moulding from its re-semblance in See also:section to the bottom of a See also:ship. Sometimes the angle of the ring is splayed, and the mouldings are worked on the splay, and this is very often found in the mouldings of the ribs of a vault (fig. 13a), giving greater lightness to the See also:rib. The mouldings of the Decorated period (fig. 14) are more diversi- fled than those of the Early English, and the hollows towards the end of the period become shallower and broader,. ogees being frequently employed. One of the See also:chief characteristics of the Perpendicular period (fig. 15) is the prevalence of large shallow hollows and the employment of two ogees in See also:close contact with the convex sides next each other. The See also:French mouldings of the Gothic period in See also:Normandy and adjacent parts follow very much on the same lines as those in England, but in the See also:south of France and in Germany they are very much simpler, and one rarely finds the deep hollow which forms the chief characteristic of English mouldings. In French flamboyant and late See also:German Gothic work the mouldings run through, penetrating one another; these in Germany were sometimes cut off, having the See also:appearance of the smaller stems of a See also:tree from which some of the boughs have been lopped. Ornamental Mouldings.—Although the mouldings in Greek' and Roman architectural See also:works are in See also:general form much thesame, they vary materially in their profiles and also in the refinement of their enrichment with See also:carving. It is probable that the earliest decoration of mouldings was confined to tie painting only of their surfaces, and in one or two of the more archaic examples traces of painting only are found on them. The See also:desire to accentuate the See also:ornament would seem to have led the Greeks at a very early date to incise or raise in See also:relief the decorative designs which originally were painted only; at first this was done very sparingly, and in the earlier buildings but few mouldings were employed; in course of See also:time they increased in number, and in the Augustan period in Rome the carving extended to the See also:flat surfaces of the corona, and the See also:fascia and soffits of the architrave. The four principal Classic mouldings, so far as their enrichment with carving is concerned, were the cyma-recta or cymatium; the cyma-reversa or ogee; the echinus or ovolo; and the torus. The cymatium was almost always decorated with a conventional treatment of the flower of the See also:acanthus plant, known generally as the See also:anthemion and sometimes as the See also:honeysuckle; the finest example is that which is found in the cornice of the north See also:doorway of the See also:Erechtheum (fig. 16). Al-though in some cases the flower of the acanthus is repeated in the Roman cymatium, the rigidity of the other lines does not seem to have appealed to the Roman sculptor, who preferred more foliage, such as is shown in the cymatium of the See also:Forum of See also:Nerva (fig. 17), there being endless variety of See also:design in Roman examples. The ogee-moulding in Greek work was always carved (fig. 18) with the Lesbian See also:leaf (Fr. See also:rais-deueur; Ger. Herzlaub), which in Roman work received a See also:peculiar See also:interpretation of the See also:original design; not understanding the modelling of the leaf and requiring a deeper See also:shadow, the Roman drilled holes in it and evolved another See also:composition of two leaves, so that the See also:outer edge of the Lesbian leaf formed a See also:trefoil See also:cusp (Fr. talon irefle), constituting a new description of border, as shown in fig. 19, from the temple of Castor at Rome. The ovolo moulding, whether employed in the bedmould of a cornice, on the capital of an anta, or in the Ionic capital, was always carved (fig. 20) with the See also:egg and dart enrichment (Fr. ove et dard; Ger. Eierstab), which was spread out wider by the r.. lithe 'See also:ION . I i~~IIIh~Nq'Id((i) .lt FIG. 2I. Roman See also:carver, while holes pierced on each See also:side of the See also:tongue changed its design into that of the egg and tongue (fig. 21). In both the enriched ogee and the carved ovolo the design was never See also:complete without the bead and reel underneath (figs. 20 and 21), there being always two beads and four reels to each leaf or egg. When employed as the crowning moulding of an architrave, the ogee is always capped by a fillet; and the same applies to the cymatium of the cornice. When the ogee moulding was of small See also:size and employed in a subordinate position, as is constantly done in Roman work, crowning the See also:modillion t1 or subdividing the fascia of the architrave, a simpler leaf See also:pattern was employed. Though not a moulding, the modillion, which was invented by the Romans to give additional support to the corona, forms part of the bedmould of the cornice, and may therefore be described here. It consists of a small See also:bracket (fig. 22), the design of which was probably derived from the See also:vertical See also:console bracket which carried the cornice of the Greek doorways, but which in the Roman cornice was employed horizontally. The de-sign of the outer side is that of an Ionic See also:volute with its See also:cushion; on the inner side the volute is reversed and is of greater size, the See also:soffit being masked by a leaf. The torus moulding of the base in early examples was fluted but not carved, and the earliest example so treated is that found in the base of the columns of the Erechtheum, where it was enriched with the triple See also:guilloche. In the temple of See also:Apollo Branchidae, near See also:Miletus in Asia Minor, where they would seem to have attempted to See also:rival the figure decoration of the temple of See also:Diana at See also:Ephesus, the torus mouldings were elaborately carved with the acanthus plant and the See also:laurel leaf; but it was in the Augustan See also:age in Rome that the greatest elaboration was given to the torus of the base; in the Ara Pacis, set up in A.D. 13, it was carved with the See also:double guilloche; the finest Roman example of an enriched torus being that of the base of the See also:Trajan See also:column in Rome, which is carved with laurel leaves tied at intervals with bands. The principal enriched See also:Byzantine moulding is that known as the Venetian dentil (fig. 23), in consequence of its constar^-. employment in See also:Venice and the towns in its vicinity. Its earliest appearance, however, is in Sta See also:Sophia at Constan- tinople (A.D. 537). The other carved Byzantine mouldings are those which The enrichments of the mouldings of the Romanesque style are of great variety; in parts of See also:Italy and in the south of France they were largely influenced by Byzantine work; but in See also:Sicily, See also:Apulia, Normandy and England the See also:Normans introduced a series of purely geometrical forms in which the chief peculiarity is the rare occurrence of foliage. The most characteristic example is that of FIG. 24. the zigzag or chevron (figs. 24, 25), of which there are many varieties; then follow the single and double See also:billet (fig. 26), the double See also:cube, the indented, the beakhead (fig. 27), &c. In the transition period in England, See also:flowers and foliage begin to be introduced, and the rosette (fig. 28), the into a four-leaf flower, and the See also:ball flower (fig. 30) follow, these being all carved in the hollow In the 16th century the enrichment of mouldings passed through a transitional See also:stage, being half Gothic and half Classic,. and on the introduction of the purer See also:Italian style Roman profiles and decoration were again employed. The Greek revival at (R. P. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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