An Illustrated Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archaeology / Explaining terms frequently used in works on architecture, arms, bronzes, Christian art, colour, costume, decoration, devices, emblems, heraldry, lace, personal ornaments, pottery, painting, sculpture, &c., with their derivations.

by John W. Mollett

Fig. 39. Argentella lace.

Argentella. A name given to a lace made in Genoa, but worked much like Point d’Alençon.

Argive. A school of sculpture, contemporary with the Attic School of Pheidias; of which Polycletus was the head. He was the author of the Canon, or law of proportion in sculpture, exemplified in his Doryphorus (spear-bearer); he worked principally in bronze, and was famous for his chryselephantine statues. A specimen of the Argive school of sculpture is the Discobolus of Myron (a contemporary of Polycletus) in the British Museum. It is an ancient copy in marble from the original bronze statue. Closeness to Nature is a distinguishing characteristic of the Argive School.

Fig. 40. Battering-ram.

Aries or Ram. A battering-ram. It consisted of a stout beam, furnished at one end with an iron head, shaped like that of a ram, and was used to batter the walls of a city till a breach was effected. The battering-ram was at first worked by men, who simply carried it in their arms, but in course of time it was suspended from a wooden tower (Fig. [40]), or a vertical beam, and worked with the aid of ropes. When the battering-ram was enclosed in a kind of wooden shed bearing some resemblance to the shell of a tortoise, it was called by the name of that animal (testudo) (Fig. [41]).

Fig. 41. Battering-ram in testudo.

Ark, Chr. A symbol of the church.

Armanahuasi, Peruv. The baths of the ancient Peruvians. They were remarkable for the elegance and luxury displayed in their ornamentation. They were furnished with magnificent fountains, some of which threw their jets upwards (huraea), others in a horizontal direction (paccha).