Fletcher, Banister; Fletcher, Banister: A history of architecture for the student, craftsman, and amateur: being a comparative view of the historical styles from the earliest period (London, 1896)

48

COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.

is a rule that was rarely departed from, and therefore is
one worthy of notice. The profile of the moulding is
thus emphasized by the expression in an enriched form
of its own curvature.

Notice the examples given from full-size sections taken
at the Parthenon and the Erechtheion (No. 29).

The following are the most important mouldings in a
classified list:

(a.) The cyma-recta (Hogarth’s “line of beauty”).
When enriched it is carved with the honeysuckle
ornament, whose outline corresponds with the sec-
tion.

(b.) The cyma reversa. When enriched it is carved
with the water-lily and tongue.

(c.) The ovolo (egg-like), when enriched is carved
with the egg and dart, or egg and tongue ornament.

(d.) The fillet, a small plain face to separate other
mouldings.

(<?.) The bead serves much the same purpose as the
fillet, and approaches a circle in section. When
enriched it is carved with beads, which in fact gave
the name to the moulding.

(/.) The cavetto is a simple hollow, and is the upper
part of the cyma-recta.

(g.) The scotia is the deep hollow occurring in bases,
and is generally not enriched.

(h.) The taurus or torus is really a magnified bead
moulding. When enriched it is carved with the
guilloche ornament.

(/.) bird’s-beak moulding is emphatically Grecian ;
it occurs in antse-caps only, has great value for the
deep shadow it gives; as a section it is very suitable
for the English climate.

(j.) The corona, the vertical face of the crowning
portion of the cornice, was often painted with a
Greek “ fret ” pattern.

G. Decoration (No. 31).—The acanthus leaf and scroll
play an important part in Greek ornamentation. The leaf
grows wild in the south of Europe, in two varieties: (f)
That with broad blunt tips, and (d) that with pointed and