MOLDINGS—PLATE 1
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The simplest decorative details and those that are most universally used in buildings are called Moldings. They are plane or cylindrical surfaces, convex, concave, or of double curvature, and they are sometimes plain and sometimes enriched by carving. They are called by various technical names: Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and English. The cross-section of a molding is called its Profile.
A small plane surface is called a Band, Face, or Fascia, Fig. 16, and if very small a Fillet, Raised or Sunk, Fig. 17, Horizontal, Vertical, or Inclined.
A convex molding is called an Ovolo, Fig. 18, Torus, Fig. 19, or Three-quarter Molding, Fig. 20, according to the amount of the curvature of its profile. A small Torus is called a Bead, Fig. 21, Astragal, or Reed, and an elliptical one, a Thumb Molding, Fig. 22. Concave moldings are, in like manner, called Cavetto, Fig. 23, Scotia, Fig. 24, or Three-quarter Hollow, but the term Scotia (darkness) is often used for any hollow molding. A Cavetto tangent to a plane surface is called a Congé, Fig. 25.
A molding with double curvature is called a Cyma, or Wave Molding. If the tangents to the curve at top and bottom are horizontal, as if the profile were cut from a horizontal wavy line, it is called a Cyma Recta, Fig. 26; if vertical, as if cut from a vertical line, a Cyma Reversa, Fig. 27. The Cyma Recta is sometimes called Cyma Reversa, Fig. 26 (c), when it is turned upside down. But this leads to confusion. The Cymas vary also, Fig. 28, in the shape and relative size of their concave and convex elements. A small Cyma is called a Cymatium. A small molding placed above a Band, or any larger molding, as a decoration, is also called a Cymatium, Fig. 29, whatever its shape.
When a convex and a concave molding, instead of being tangent, come together at an angle, they constitute a Beak Molding, Fig. 30.
Some architectural features, such as Bases, Caps, and Balusters, consist entirely of moldings. Others consist mainly of plane surfaces, moldings being employed to mark the boundary between different features, as between the Architrave and Frieze, or between different members, of the
