Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/88

Rh highest perfection in the nave of the Cathedral of Amiens. The section of this pier is shown in Fig. 30, its abacus surface with the plan of the imposed load, in Fig. 31, and a perspective view taken from the opposite triforium, in order to show as much as can be seen of the upper surface of the abacus and of the form of its load, is given in Fig. 32. It will be seen on the plan that the portion of the abacus which covers the capital of the great round column is now circular; that the abaci of the lesser capitals of the engaged shafts are square in agreement with the sections of the sub-archivolts and of the transverse rib of the aisle vault, which they respectively support; and that over the engaged column, which falls under the vaulting shafts, a portion of the great

FIG. 31.

abacus projects in a segmental curve, forming a band to this column, which is not provided with a capital—partly, perhaps, because it is really the lower member of the group of vaulting shafts which have their capitals at the springing of the vaults, and partly also because a capital here would