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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MOS-NAN |
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MOULDINGS , the term in architecture for the decorative treatment given to projecting or receding features in stone, wood
special
Fillet Cavetto Torus the ornamental sculptures and the simple architectural lines of the main structure, gave a richly decorative effect to the latter without interference with the beauty of the former. The Classic mouldings may be divided into two classes, simple and compound; to the former belong the cavetto (of small dimensions when compared with the Egyptian cavetto) and the Scotia (fig. 2), employed for the bases of columns, which are seen below the eye, both concave mouldings, whilst the ovolo or echinusFr. ove or quart de rond(figs. 3 and 4)and the torus are convex mouldings. The compound mouldings are those composed of curves of contrary flexure, such as the cymarecta or cymatium (fig. 5), of which the upper part is concave and the lower convex, a moulding constantly employed for the upper member of the cornice, and the cyma-reversa or ogee (fig. 6)-Fr. talon-in which the upper portion is convex. The Greeks sometimes varied the ogee moulding, the upper portion of which is turned back and the lower portion brought forward, and to this the term quirked ogee (fig. 7) is given. Another Greek moulding of compound form is the bird's beak (fig. 8), employed as a drip moulding above the corona. Of smaller dimensions is the astragal (fig. 9), a moulding invariably carved with the bead and reel, which in Greek work is constantly used in 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 apophyge under the capital and over the base, but in Roman work, as in the theatre of Marcellus, it sometimes took the 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 abacus of the Doric capital . The earliest archaic example exists in the capital of the shafts flanking the tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenae (a, fig. Io), where it consisted of a large torus decoratedwith the chevron (see CAPITALS), and an apophyge carved with the petals of a flower; a similar decoration of the apophyge is found in two or three early Doric capitals, as at Paestum and, Metapontum, but this is the only example known in which the echinus of the Doric capital was carved, though traces of painting and gilding have been found on them. Other examples showing the gradual development of the echinus are shown in fig. ro; b being from the temple at Corinth, c from the Parthenon at Athens, d from the portico at Delos, e an early Roman example (c. 6o B.C.) of the temple at Cori, and f from the theatre of Marcellus, where it nearly approaches the quarter round always employed in late
There is one other important decorative feature which forms the most characteristic feature of the bedmould of the Ionic cornice, viz. the dentil cornice (fig. II), derived originally from the ends of the squared timbers which carried the cornice of the primitive Ionic temple, and in the earlier stone examples copied more or less literally; it subsequently in the 4th century was introduced as a part of the bedmould of the cornice of the Ionic Order, the temple of Minerva Polias at Priene in Asia Minor being one of the best examples. It consists of a series of projecting blocks with intervals between them equal to halfIIIIIIIIIillll b. ~- C I d e J1 f the width of the block
In the Romanesque style the mouldings consist almost entirely of rounds and hollows, the former known as the bowtel, and in England, France, Spain and Germany employed to decorate or soften the angle of an arch mould. As the Romanesque arch frequently consisted of two or more rings of 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 Norman work in England and the north of France there is found the constant recurrence of mouldings broken into zigzag lines and other decorations coming under the head of ornamental mouldings described below. The simple bowtel (fig. 12) was retained in France far into the Gothic period, but in the Early 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 ring or order is enriched with a 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 keel moulding from its re-semblance in section to the bottom of a 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 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 chief
The French mouldings of the Gothic period in Normandy and adjacent parts follow very much on the same lines as those in England, but in the south of France and in Germany they are very much simpler, and one rarely finds the deep hollow which forms the chief
late
Ornamental Mouldings.Although the mouldings in Greek' and Roman architectural works are in general form much thesame, they vary materially in their profiles and also in the refinement of their enrichment with 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 desire to accentuate the ornament would seem to have led the Greeks at a very early date to incise or raise in 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 time they increased in number, and in the Augustan period in Rome the carving extended to the flat surfaces of the corona, and the 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 acanthus plant, known generally as the anthemion and sometimes as the honeysuckle; the finest example is that which is found in the cornice of the north doorway of the 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 Forum of Nerva (fig. 17), there being endless variety of design in Roman examples. The ogee-moulding in Greek work was always carved (fig. 18) with the Lesbian leaf (Fr. rais-deueur; Ger. Herzlaub), which in Roman work received a peculiar interpretation of the original
modelling of the leaf and requiring a deeper shadow, the Roman drilled holes in it and evolved another composition of two leaves, so that the outer edge of the Lesbian leaf formed a trefoil 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 egg and dart enrichment (Fr. ove et dard; Ger. Eierstab), which was spread out wider by the r.. lithe 'ION . I i~~IIIh~Nq'Id((i) .lt FIG. 2I. Roman carver, while holes pierced on each side of the 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 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 size and employed in a subordinate position, as is constantly done in Roman work, crowning the modillion t1 or subdividing the fascia of the architrave, a simpler leaf 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 bracket (fig. 22), the design of which was probably derived from the vertical 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 volute with its cushion; on the inner side the volute is reversed and is of greater size, the 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 guilloche. In the temple of Apollo Branchidae, near Miletus in Asia Minor, where they would seem to have attempted to rival the figure decoration of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the torus mouldings were elaborately carved with the acanthus plant and the laurel leaf; but it was in the Augustan 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 double guilloche; the finest Roman example of an enriched torus being that of the base of the Trajan column in Rome, which is carved with laurel leaves tied at intervals with bands. The principal enriched Byzantine moulding is that known as the Venetian dentil (fig. 23), in consequence of its constar^-. employment in Venice and the towns in its vicinity. Its earliest appearance, however, is in Sta Sophia
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 Italy and in the south of France they were largely influenced by Byzantine work; but in Sicily, Apulia, Normandy and England the 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 doublebillet (fig. 26), the double cube, the indented, the beakhead (fig. 27), &c. In the transition period in England, flowers
into a four-leaf flower, and the ball flower (fig. 30) follow, these being all carved in the hollow In the 16th century the enrichment of mouldings passed through a transitional stage, being half Gothic and half Classic,. and on the introduction of the purer Italian style Roman profiles and decoration were again employed. The Greek revival at (R. P. S.) End of Article: MOULDINGS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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