Fig. 176.—Entablature, capital and base of the Greek Ionic Temple on the Ilissus.
abacus, and a shallow echinus carved with the egg and tongue. The peculiarity of this cushioned cap is, that each side of the front and back faces are formed into volutes, and come down considerably below the bottom of the capital, and are carved on the faces with a shell spiral.[10] The junctions of the plain surfaces of the volutes with the projecting circular echinus are masked by a half honeysuckle. At the bottom of the shaft is a circular pedestal or base of slight projection, consisting of an upper and lower torus joined by a hollow (trochilus), the upper torus being horizontally fluted and the lower one plain, and there is no square plinth.
In this case the architrave is deep and without fascias, though the Ionic order has mostly three fascias; its capping (cymatium) consists of a fillet with a plain cyma and astragal beneath. The frieze, which has no triglyphs, is supposed to have been sculptured with figures; its cymatium consists of an ogee and astragal, to admit which the underside of the corona is deeply hollowed out; the cymatium of the corona consists of a narrow fillet and a cyma. The crowning member probably only existed on the raking sides of the pediment.
As this is not a treatise for architects, but a sketch of the subject for ornamentalists, one example is enough to show the difference between the Doric and Ionic, but the capital of the most ornate example, that of the Erechtheum, is given; its main differences from the former one being these, that the ornaments on the mouldings are carved instead of only being painted, that in the entablature there are three fascias to the architrave, that the column has a neck carved with floral ornaments and a carved necking, and the sweeps of the capital as well as the spirals of the volutes are more numerous.
Fig. 177.—Side elevation, plan, and section of the Ionic capital, from the Temple on the Ilissus.
Section. Section.