Mexican Architecture. The principal monuments of the valley of Mexico are situated in a small tract in the centre of the table-land of Anahuac. These consist of pyramidal temples (teocallis) formed in terraces, with flat tops, and always surmounted by a chamber or cell, which is the temple itself. In Yucatan there are more architectural remains than anywhere in the world, with palaces of all dates, generally pyramidal, and often rich with elaborate carvings. (See Stephens’s Incidents of Travel in Yucatan.) (Fig. [458] a.)
Mezza-majolica was the coarser majolica ware formed of potter’s earth, covered with a white “slip,” upon which the subject was painted, then glazed with the common lead glaze, over which the lustre pigments were applied; the majolica, on the other hand, being the tin-enamelled ware similarly lustred. (See Majolica.)
Mezzanine, Entresole, Half-story, Arch. A small story intermediate between two others of larger size. A mezzanine or Flemish window was a window either square or broader than it was long, made in an attic, or in a lower story lying between two higher stories.
Mezzo-relievo, It. Sculpture in relief, in which one half of the figure projects; sometimes called Demi-relievo.
Mias, Hind. A commemorative monument.
Mica, Micatio, R. (mico, to move quickly). A game called by the Italians of the present day mora; two players simultaneously stretching out one or more fingers, and each guessing the number held up by his adversary.
Middle Ages. The mediæval period—of transition between ancient and modern times—between the 10th and the 15th centuries is one of the grandest periods in art. It begins with the decay of Rome, and merges into the Renaissance.
Middle Distance, in a landscape:—between the foreground and the background. Great skill is displayed in the expression of distance by the effects of intervening atmospheres, and by the design of intermediate plans carrying the eye onward and suggesting space.
Middle Ground in a landscape. (See Middle Distance.)
Middle Pointed Period of Architecture is a name given to that period of Gothic architecture in England, which is generally described as “the Decorated Period.”