Design and Tradition / A short account of the principles and historic development of architecture and the applied arts

by Amor Fenn

Corinthian Order

The total height should be divided into six parts. Then the upper sixth is the height of the entablature. A tenth of the remainder will be the diameter of the column.

The capital is one diameter and one-sixth in height exclusive of the necking moulding, and the base is half a diameter high, exclusive of the top fillet.

The division of the entablature is the same as that of the Ionic, and the mouldings, although more elaborate, are similar in character. The architrave and frieze are each three-tenths of the height and the cornice four-tenths.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the diameters of the three orders are respectively one-eighth, one-ninth and one-tenth the heights of the columns, and that the entablature is, in the Doric, two diameters high or one fourth the height of the column; in the Corinthian also two diameters or one-fifth the height of the column. The Ionic is intermediate between the two.

Doric Entablatures

The Doric cornice is three-quarters of a diameter in height and one diameter in projection from the face of the frieze, which should always be in vertical alignment with the architrave.

It is convenient to divide the cornice height into three. The upper third consists of a crowning cavetto moulding, supported by a cyma reversa, under which is a facia or corona, in turn supported by a dentil course. The lower third should be taken as the centre of the dentil course, and if the height from the top of the cavetto to the underside of the corona be bisected, the point of bisection should fall in the centre of the intervening reversa.

Mutules

In orthodox examples of the order the underside or soffit of the corona is decorated with a series of sunk panels. Those immediately over the triglyphs of the frieze are occupied by rows of conical drops. A variation of this and a treatment frequently employed is a series of brackets known as mutules. They consist of a facia and a reversa, which is carried round the upper edge to support the corona. When mutules are used the dentil course is omitted.