The edges of the stiles and rails are moulded. In the late Gothic and Tudor periods the mouldings were often simply scribed; but later the profiles became more distinct in contour.
These early mouldings were narrow and simple in form, arrived at mainly by softening or rounding the square edges of the frame.
Applied Mouldings
Applied mouldings were apparently employed in the Jacobean period, and the sections became more elaborate. Worked independently, they were frequently higher in relief than the framings. The facility with which they could be worked and applied resulted at this period in a fashion for complicated mitreing hardly justifiable from a constructional point of view, though effective if not overdone.
No. 140. Applied Mouldings.
In the composition of such mouldings it is desirable that the sizes and contours employed should be contrasting, and that all curved sections be divided by fillets.
As the width of the moulding throughout is uniform, it is obvious that mitral angles must be perfect bi-sections of the meeting lines.
With regard to proportion, the width of mouldings may generally be one-fourth to one-eighth that of the panel according to desired effect, robust or refined.