or subdividing the fascia of the architrave, a simpler leaf pattern was employed.
Though not a moulding, the modillion, which was invented by the Romans to give additional support to the corona, forms part of the bedmould of the cornice, and may therefore be bracket (fig. 22), the design of which was probably derived from the vertical console bracket which carried the cornice of the Greek doorways, but which in the Roman cornice was employed horizontally. The design of the outer side is that of an Ionic volute with its cushion; described here. It consists of a small on the inner side the volute is reversed and is of greater size, the soffit being masked by a leaf.
Fig. 22.
The torus moulding of the base in early examples was fluted but not carved, and the earliest example so treated is that found in the base of the columns of the Erechtheum, where it was enriched with the triple guilloche. In the temple of Apollo Branchidae, near Miletus in Asia Minor, where they would seem to have attempted to rival the figure decoration of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the torus mouldings were elaborately carved with the acanthus plant and the laurel leaf; but it was in the Augustan age in Rome that the greatest elaboration was given to the torus of the base; in the Ara Pacis, set up in A.D. 13, it was carved with the double guilloche; the finest Roman example of an enriched torus being that of the base of the Trajan column in Rome, which is carved with laurel leaves tied at intervals with bands.
The principal enriched Byzantine moulding is that known as the Venetian dentil (fig. 23), in consequence of its constant employment in Venice and the towns in its vicinity. Its earliest appearance, however, is in Sta Sophia at Constantinople (A.D. 537). The other carved Byzantine mouldings are those which throughout Syria form richly carved string-courses, taking the place of the Classic cornice, and the hood moulds of arches. The Byzantine string-course, which is found in St Mark’s, Venice, and in most of the towns bordering on the Adriatic, is a cyma-recta carved with the acanthus leaf.
The enrichments of the mouldings of the Romanesque style are of great variety; in parts of Italy and in the south of France they were largely influenced by Byzantine work; but in Sicily, Apulia, Normandy and England the Normans introduced a series of purely geometrical forms in which the chief peculiarity is the rare occurrence of foliage. The most characteristic example is that of the zigzag or chevron (figs. 24, 25), of which there are many varieties; then follow the single and double billet (fig. 26), the double cube the indented, the beakhead (fig. 27); &c.
|
||
| Fig. 23. | Fig. 24. | Fig. 25. |
Fig. 26.Fig. 27.
In the transition period in England, flowers and foliage begin to be introduced, and the rosette (fig. 28), the dog-tooth (fig. 29), which develops into a four-leaf flower, and the ball flower (fig. 30) follow, these being all carved in the hollow of cavetto mouldings. In the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, the flowers and foliage introduced in mouldings become more natural, till one reaches the Tudor rose (fig. 31), a precise copy of the flower, beyond which it was difficult to go.
Fig. 28.Fig. 29.
Fig. 30.Fig. 31.
In the 16th century the enrichment of mouldings passed through a transitional stage, being half Gothic and half Classic, and on the introduction of the purer Italian style Roman profiles and decoration were again employed. The Greek revival at the commencement, and the Gothic revival in the middle, of the 19th century naturally brought about a reaction in favour either of purer Classic forms or of Gothic work, but the vernacular types could not be displaced by the passing fashion, and the influence of Robert Adam is again paramount to-day. (R. P. S.)
MOULIN (Fr. moulin, a mill), in physical geography, the
name given to the swirling cascades which are formed by glacier
streams pouring into crevasses, and result in the formation of
giant’s kettles.
MOULIN QUIGNON, a quarry near Abbeville, France, celebrated
for the discovery in 1863 by Boucher de Perthes of a
human jaw-bone believed to be referable to the Quaternary
period. By his collection of flints Boucher de Perthes had
been the first to attempt to establish the existence of man in
remote ages; but it had been objected that if the flints were
indeed the work of man, human remains would have been found
in association with them. Considerable excitement therefore
was created both in England and France by the “find” of
bones at Moulin Quignon, and a commission of inquiry was
appointed. The report was favourable to the genuineness of
the relics, but latterly doubts have arisen as to whether they can
be regarded as earlier than the Neolithic age.
MOULINS, a town of central France, capital of the department
of Allier, 121 m. by rail N.W. of Lyons. Pop. (1906),
18,997. The town is situated on the right bank of the Allier,
which is here crossed by a remarkable bridge of the 18th century
about 1000 ft. in length. Moulins did not attain any importance
till the 14th century, before which it consisted chiefly of some
mills belonging to the dukes of Bourbon. The medieval town
occupied a small area, the boundaries of which are marked on
the N.E. and S. by the central boulevards occupying the site of
the old moats. The modern town, expanding from this nucleus,
is limited on the east and south by the railway, the southern
portion being traversed by agreeable promenades. To the
north is the spacious avenue known as the Cours de Bercy,
close by the hospital and the lycée. The more interesting
buildings lie within the old enceinte. The chief of these is
the cathedral, which consists of a huge choir of the 15th and
16th centuries, and a nave in the early Gothic style but modern
in construction and terminated by two towers with stone spires
rising to a height of 312 ft. The church possesses a fine triptych
attributed to Domenico Ghirlandajo (d. 1494), and fine windows
of the 15th and 16th centuries. Among the oldest buildings
in the town are the square tower of the 14th century (used as a
prison) which is the chief relic of the château of the dukes of
Bourbon, and a belfry of the 15th century. Part of an old
Jesuit college serves as the court-house, which contains an
archaeological museum. The library, which possesses a valuable
Bible of 1115, is part of the hôtel-de-ville. Numerous
mansions of the 15th and 16th centuries border the streets of the
