Page:Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle, 1.djvu/29

 side chapels of the cathedral of Paris), 1230 to 1250, the abacuses are circular (5).





Towards the end of the 13th century the abacuses decrease little by little by importance: they become low, thin, not very projecting during the 14th century (6), and disappear almost entirely during the 15th (7). Then, under the influence of ancient architecture, the abacuses take again importance at the beginning of the 16th century. {See:. Capial.) During the Romance period and first half of the 13th century, the abacuses do not form part of the capital; they are taken in another stone base; they fulfill really the function of a shelf being used of support and point of support with the diagrids of the arcs. Since the medium of the XIII E century until the rebirth, while losing of their importance like moulding, the abacuses, generally, are taken in the base of the capital; sometimes even the foliages which decorate the capital come to bite on the lower limbs their profiles. To the 15th century, the ornaments wrap the moulding of the abacus, which hides under this excess of vegetation. The relationship between the height of the profile of the abacus and the capital, between the projection and the contour of its mouldings and the provision of the foliages or ornaments, is extremely important to observe; because these reports/ratios and the character of these mouldings change non-seulement according to progress of the architecture of the Middle Ages, but also according to the place which the capitals occupy. To the 13th century mainly, the abacuses are more or less thick, and their profiles are more or less complicated, according to whether the capitals are placed more or less close to the ground. In the high parts of the buildings, the abacuses are very-thick, largely shaped, while in the low parts they thinner and are finely profiled. ABAT-SONS, is the name given to sheets of wood, covered in lead or slate, which are attached to the