List of Works on Costume, 1s.; Furniture, 1d.; Heraldry, 3d.; Lace and Needlework, 1d.; Ornament, 6d.; Painting, 4d.; Pottery and Porcelain, 3d.; Sculpture, 3d.
These Catalogues may be had on application to the Secretary of the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, S.W.
ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF WORDS
USED IN
ART AND ARCHÆOLOGY.
Abbreviations—Arch. Architectural; Chr. Christian; Egyp. Egyptian; Fr. French; Gr. Greek; Her. Heraldic; It. Italian; Lat. Latin; Med. Mediæval; O. E. Old English; Orient. Oriental; R. Roman.
Aar or Aarou, Egyp. A plain in a supra-terrestrial region, which corresponded, with the Egyptians, to the Elysian Fields of the Greeks and the Asgard of Scandinavian mythology.
Fig. 1. Abaculi used as pavement.
Abaculus, Gr. and R. (a diminutive of abacus, q.v.). A small square or cube of glass, or some vitreous composition made to imitate stone or glass of various colours. Abaculi were employed for the inlaid-work of pavements, or the incrustations of mosaic.
Abacus, Gr. and R. (ἄβαξ, a slab or board). 1. In general a rectangular slab of stone, marble, or terra-cotta. 2. A board or tray used in arithmetical calculations, and constructed for reckoning by tens. 3. A play-board divided into compartments, a kind of backgammon in use in antiquity. The same term was also applied to a board used for another game of skill, the ludus latrunculorum, which was more like our chess. 4. A side-board on which were displayed, in the triclinium, or dining-room, silver plate and other table utensils. 5. A slab of marble, used for a coating in the decoration of a room or apartment of any kind. 6. A square slab of terra-cotta or wood, placed by the earliest builders at the top of wooden columns, in order to give them a broader head, and so afford a better support to the beams which rested on them. It was this motive that gave rise to the formation of the abacus of the capital of a column.