Moulding book

MOULDING. A general term applied to all the varieties of outline or contour given to the angles of the various subordinate parts and features of buildings, whether projections or cavities, such as cornices, capitals, bases, door and window jambs and heads, etc. The regular mouldings of Classical architecture are, foe fillet, or list; the astragal, or bead; the cyma reversa, or ogee; the cyma recta, or cyma; the cavetto, or hollow; the owlo, or quarter-round; the scotia, or trochilus; the torus, or round; each of these admits of some variety of form, and there is considerable difference in the manner of working them between the Greeks and Romans. They are represented on page v. The mouldings in Classical architecture are frequently enriched by being cut into leaves, eggs and tongues, or other ornaments, and sometimes the larger members have running patterns of honeysuckle or other foliage carved on them in low relief; the upper moulding of cornices is occasionally ornamented with a series of projecting lions heads.

In middle age architecture, the diversities in the proportions and arrangements of the mouldings are very great, and it is scarcely possible to do more than point out a few of the leading and most characteristic varieties. In the Norman style the mouldings consist almost entirely of rounds and hollows, variously combined, with an admixture of splays, and a few fillets (page v. , fig. C); the ogee and ovolo are seldom to be found,
and the cyma recta scarcely ever; in early work very few mouldings of any kind are met with, and it is not till the style is considerably advanced that they become numerous ; as they increase in number, their size is, for the most part, proportionably reduced. One of the most marked peculiarities of Norman architecture is the constant recurrence of mouldings broken into zig-zag lines; it has not been very clearly ascertained at what period this kind of decoration was first introduced, but it was certainly not till some considerable time after the commencement of the style; when once adopted, it became more common than any other ornament, and it is frequently used in great profusion; it may be made to produce great variety of effect by changing the section of the mouldings and placing the zigzags in different directions (figs. A and B, page v.; fig. J, page vii.). About the same time that the zigzag appeared, other ornaments of various kinds were introduced among the mouldings, and are frequently met with in great abundance; two of the most marked are the billet, and a series of grotesque heads placed in a hollow moulding, with their tongues or beaks lapping over a large bead or torus; but of these ornaments there are many varieties, and the other kinds are incalculably diversified. (Page vii., figs. E, F, K, L.)

In the Early English style, the mouldings be- come lighter, and are more boldly cut than in the Norman; the varieties are not very great, and in arches, jambs of doors, windows, etc., they are very commonly so arranged that if they are circumscribed by a line drawn to touch the most prominent points of their contour it will be found to form a succession of rectangular recesses, as a, b, c, d, e; they generally consist of alternate rounds and hollows, the latter very deeply cut, and a few small fillets; sometimes also splays are used; there is considerable inequality in the sizes of the round mouldings, and the larger ones are very usually placed at such a distance apart as to admit of several smaller between them; these large rounds have frequently one or more narrow fillets worked on them, or are brought to a sharp edge in the middle, as at Haddenham, Great Haseley, etc., (figs. D, G and M, page vii.); the smaller rounds are often undercut, with a deep cavity on one side, and the round and hollow members constantly unite with each other without any parting fillet or angle. The ornaments used on mouldings in this style are not numerous, and they are almost invariably placed in the hollows; the commonest and most characteristic is that which is known by the name of the tooth- ornament, which usually consists of four small plain leaves united so as to form a pyramid, but it is sometimes worked differently, and at the west door of St. Cross Church, Hampshire, and the chancel-arch of Stone Church, Kent, is composed of small bunches of leaves; these ornaments are commonly placed close together, and several series of them are frequently introduced in the same suit of mouldings; the other enrichments consist chiefly of single leaves and flowers, or of running patterns of the foliage peculiar to the style.

The decorated mouldings are more diversified than the early English, though in large suits rounds and hollows continue for the most part to prevail; the hollows are often very deeply cut, but in many instances, especially towards the end of the style, they become shallower and broader; ovolos are not very uncommon, and ogees are frequent; splays also are often used, either by themselves or with other mouldings; fillets placed upon larger members are abundant, especially in the early part of the style, and a round moulding, with a sharp projecting edge on it, arising from one-half being formed from a smaller curve than the other, is frequently used; this is characteristic of decorated work, and is very common in string-courses; when used horizontally the larger curve is placed uppermost; there is also another moulding, convex in the middle and concave at each extremity, which, though sometimes found in the perpendicular style, may be considered as generally characteristic of the decorated. Fillets are very frequently used to separate other members, but the rounds and hollows often run together, as in the early English style (fig. H, page vii.). The enrichments consist of leaves and flowers, either set separately, or in running patterns, figures, heads, and animals, all of which are generally carved with greater truth than at any other period (figs. I, P, Q, R, page vii.); shields, also, and fanciful devices, are sometimes introduced; the varieties of foliage and flowers are very considerable, but there is one, the ball-flower, which belongs especially to this style, although a few examples are to be found of earlier date; this is a round hollow flower, of three petals, enclosing a ball. (Figs. N and O, page vii.)

In the perpendicular style, the mouldings are generally flatter and less effective than at an earlier period; one of the most striking characteristics is the prevalence of very large, and often shallow, hollows; these sometimes occupied so large a space as to leave but little room for any other mouldings; the hollows and round members not unfrequently unite without any line of separation, but the other members are parted either by quirks or fillets; the most prevalent moulding is the ogee, but rounds, which are often so small as to be only beads, are very abundant, and it is very usual to find two ogees in close contact, with the convex sides next each other; there is also an undulating moulding, which is common in abacuses and drip-stones, peculiar to the perpendicular style, especially the latter part of it; and another, indicative of the same date, which is concave in the middle and round at each extremity, is occasionally used in door jambs, etc. In perpendicular work, small fillets are not placed upon larger members as in decorated and early English; splays also are much less frequent than in the earlier styles, but shallow hollows are used instead. The ornaments used in the mouldings are running patterns of foliage and flowers; detached leaves, flowers, and bunches of foliage; heads, animals and figures, usually grotesque; shields, and various heraldic and fanciful devices; the large hollow mouldings, when used in arches or the jambs of doors and windows, sometimes contain statues with canopies over them.

In Normandy and the adjacent parts of France, as late as to the end of the decorated style, the mouldings do not differ materially from those ofEngland, although there is often less variety in large suits, the same members being many times repeated; it is also very usual when capitals and bases are applied to the round mouldings in the jambs of doors and windows, etc., so as to convert them into shafts, to find that no change is made in their forms above the capitals, while, in England, the mouldings above and below the capitals are seldom the same.