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. 499. Device of the Offuscati Academy.

Offuscati. One of the Italian literary academies. They bore for their device a bear, roused from his natural heaviness by the stings of bees, with the motto, “Stings (or points) will sharpen steel.” (Fig. [499].)

Ogam, Celtic. The sacred writing of the Druids. (Cf. Ogham.)

Ogee Arch or Contrasted Arch or Moulding, Arch. An arch or moulding described by means of four centres, so as to be alternately concave and convex. It was frequently employed in fifteenth-century monuments, and its constant recurrence in the later Gothic or flamboyant architecture has given rise to its French name of ogival.

Ogham. A kind of shorthand writing or cipher in use among the ancient Irish. (S.)

Ogivale, Fr. A French architectural term of constant occurrence, applied to the architecture of the mediæval period in France, during which the pointed arch was used.

Ogive, Fr. Arch. A pointed arch; not the Ogee.

Ogivette, Arch. A small ogee.

Ogress, Her. A pellet or black roundle.