Adam Style
The designs of the brothers Adam, which were in vogue in the reign of George III, though peculiarly individual and distinctive, were based upon the study of Græco-Roman details. In the Adam style the ornament is delicate in relief, and mostly displayed in profile. Panels and enclosed spaces are occupied, the decorative elements being carefully disposed with regard to balance and stability, with large areas of plain surface.
The characteristic and prevailing details are the fan and delicate festoons of leaves or husks, at times of beads.
The anthemion is much used on friezes and borders, and compound animal forms, such as the Sphinx, were borrowed from the antique, the same source doubtless inspiring the employment of vases, altars, and tripods.
Medallions occur occupied by figures after the manner of the Greek vases. In some instances these were in pottery, the work of Wedgwood.
The general structural form was architectural, the mouldings slight in projection and refined in their profiles being decorated by orthodox enrichments.
The foliage is mostly artificial in character, the leaf lobes in those of the acanthus type being orderly in arrangement with regard to profile and radial display, with comparatively little modelling.