DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.863#0035
ATHENIAN ARCHITECTURE. 31
PLATE XXVII. ANGULAR ACROTERIUM OF A CORNICE WHERE THE
PEDIMENT WAS OMITTED.
At the lower part of the Plate is the elevation of an example of horizontal cornice acroteria
applied in the situation it seems to have originally had at the angle of a building, where the tile
ornaments instead of pediment were continued along the front as on the side, which may be
inferred from the plinth and under surface on each side of the marble being horizontal. It was
purchased of a priest, from among several other fragments lying about the court yard of a small
Greek church in one of the streets of Athens towards the Areopagus, and brought by him, in com-
pany with Demetrius ZografFos, to the house of the latter. Its style of ornament is very similar
to that of a vase found near Selinus, placed before the chapter on Agrigentum in Wilkins's Anti-
quities of Magna Grascia. Also the beautiful example of antae of the inner vestibule at Eleusis, and
a fragment at Pompeii given by Vulliamy among other terra cotta enrichments, much resemble the
character of the ornament of the present fragment.
The protypa, or other intermediate tile ornaments of the cornice, would have been of a design
in some measure correspondent to that of the angle, of which a general effect is presented in the
supposed arrangement relatively with the cornice, and probable species of ornament lightly
expressed in dotted lines. At the top of the Plate is the plan, one-fourth the dimensions of the
marble, of the acroterium alluded to, shewing its particular form at the back, and the two grooves
for the tenons, by which it must have been firmly fixed. Adjoining is an elevation, giving its
return thickness and contour behind, corresponding with the form usually given to the back of
the protypa, which parts of an angular ornament of this description have not perhaps been pub-
lished before. On the opposite side is marked a small section through the eye and the astragal,
and the channel of the volutes that decorate the lower part of the principal elevations. Beneath in
the centre is the same ornament repeated, with that also of the opposite return thickness, peculiar
in having a small blossom springing out of the acanthus, like that of the usual thistle. The depth
and form of the grooves for the tenons are indicated; and the situation of these ornamented
returns the plan above describes. Of the elevation on each side, the tenons, the lower plinth and
spirals, and the rounded form to correspond with that of the intermediate tile ornaments, are the
only ancient parts: the remainder of the enrichment is merely introduced to place into view the
distortion of the circular tendrils of the marble itself; the one is drawn immediately over the
marble, being nearly a repetition with the two principal rounding forms springing from the volute
more circular. The other side of the marble varies in the upper ornaments from the one given,
and is equally defective in the execution of its circular forms.
PLATE XXVIII. A SERIES OF FIVE CORNICE ORNAMENTS IN MARBLE, OF
THE JOINT TILES OR RIBS OF ROOFS, OF THE KIND TERMED ECTYPA.
The front elevations forming the upper part of the Plate are merely placed in one ranging line,
With an indication of cornice dotted beneath, to shew their general effect when placed in their
position on a building: each has a small plinth carved as its base and for the ornament to rest on,
PLATE XXVII. ANGULAR ACROTERIUM OF A CORNICE WHERE THE
PEDIMENT WAS OMITTED.
At the lower part of the Plate is the elevation of an example of horizontal cornice acroteria
applied in the situation it seems to have originally had at the angle of a building, where the tile
ornaments instead of pediment were continued along the front as on the side, which may be
inferred from the plinth and under surface on each side of the marble being horizontal. It was
purchased of a priest, from among several other fragments lying about the court yard of a small
Greek church in one of the streets of Athens towards the Areopagus, and brought by him, in com-
pany with Demetrius ZografFos, to the house of the latter. Its style of ornament is very similar
to that of a vase found near Selinus, placed before the chapter on Agrigentum in Wilkins's Anti-
quities of Magna Grascia. Also the beautiful example of antae of the inner vestibule at Eleusis, and
a fragment at Pompeii given by Vulliamy among other terra cotta enrichments, much resemble the
character of the ornament of the present fragment.
The protypa, or other intermediate tile ornaments of the cornice, would have been of a design
in some measure correspondent to that of the angle, of which a general effect is presented in the
supposed arrangement relatively with the cornice, and probable species of ornament lightly
expressed in dotted lines. At the top of the Plate is the plan, one-fourth the dimensions of the
marble, of the acroterium alluded to, shewing its particular form at the back, and the two grooves
for the tenons, by which it must have been firmly fixed. Adjoining is an elevation, giving its
return thickness and contour behind, corresponding with the form usually given to the back of
the protypa, which parts of an angular ornament of this description have not perhaps been pub-
lished before. On the opposite side is marked a small section through the eye and the astragal,
and the channel of the volutes that decorate the lower part of the principal elevations. Beneath in
the centre is the same ornament repeated, with that also of the opposite return thickness, peculiar
in having a small blossom springing out of the acanthus, like that of the usual thistle. The depth
and form of the grooves for the tenons are indicated; and the situation of these ornamented
returns the plan above describes. Of the elevation on each side, the tenons, the lower plinth and
spirals, and the rounded form to correspond with that of the intermediate tile ornaments, are the
only ancient parts: the remainder of the enrichment is merely introduced to place into view the
distortion of the circular tendrils of the marble itself; the one is drawn immediately over the
marble, being nearly a repetition with the two principal rounding forms springing from the volute
more circular. The other side of the marble varies in the upper ornaments from the one given,
and is equally defective in the execution of its circular forms.
PLATE XXVIII. A SERIES OF FIVE CORNICE ORNAMENTS IN MARBLE, OF
THE JOINT TILES OR RIBS OF ROOFS, OF THE KIND TERMED ECTYPA.
The front elevations forming the upper part of the Plate are merely placed in one ranging line,
With an indication of cornice dotted beneath, to shew their general effect when placed in their
position on a building: each has a small plinth carved as its base and for the ornament to rest on,