Page:Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle, 1.djvu/27



ABACUS (also:"Trencher") Shelf which crowns the capital of the column. This architectural element plays a great part in constructions of the Middle Ages.





The capital receiving the springings of the arches directly, forms a corbelling intended to balance the overhang of the diagrid on the column, the abacus thus adds to the projection of the capital, giving a greater resistance; generally bevelled in the capitals of the primitive Romance time (1), it affects in flat projection, the square form according to the lower bed