Page:Ware - The American Vignola, 1920.djvu/14

4 same feature, as between the Shaft of a column and its Capital, Fig. 31. In these cases the moldings, since they occur on the edges of the stone blocks, indicate, while they conceal, the position of the joints of the masonry. Moldings are often placed also in the internal angle where two plane surfaces meet, as is the case between the Frieze and the Corona of the Cornice, and under the Abacus of the Capital. When placed upon the external angle formed by two planes, they are, in the Gothic Styles, Fig. 32, often cut in, so as to lie below the surface of both planes, but in the Classical Styles, they project beyond the plane of one of the surfaces, like a little cornice, as is often seen in the Abacus of a Capital.

Horizontal Moldings, separating plane surfaces, are called a String-Course, Fig. 33.

TABLE OF MOLDINGS, PLATE I Plane.—Face, Band, or Fascia; Beveled, Inclined, or Splay Face; Fillet, vertical, horizontal, or beveled, Raised or Sunk.

Convex.—Ovolo, or Quarter Round; Torus, or Half Round; Thumb Molding, or Elliptical Torus; Three-quarter Round; Bead, Astragal, or Reed; Three-quarter Bead.

Concave.—Cavetto or Quarter Hollow; Conge; Half Hollow; Scotia; Three-quarter Hollow.

Double Curvature.—Cyma Recta; Cyma Reversa; Cymatium; Beak Molding.

Besides the differences of size and shape already mentioned, and indicated in the table, moldings of the same name differ in the kind of curve they employ. They may be arcs, either of circles, ellipses, parabolas, or hyperbolas, or of any other curve

STYLES systems of construction have prevailed among different races, some employing only the Beam and Column, some also the Arch and Vault. In the choice of moldings, also, some have adopted one set of forms, some another. The forms employed by the Greeks and Romans constitute what are called the Classical Styles; those used in the Middle Ages, the Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic Styles. Some of the Gothic moldings have special names, such as Bowtel, Scroll, etc.

At the close of the Middle Ages, about four hundred years ago, the Classical styles were revived, as the Medieval styles have been during the last hundred years. Both are now in use. The styles of Egypt, India, and China are employed only occasionally and as a matter of curiosity.