Richard Phené Spiers

“ MOULDINGS, the term in architecture for the decorative treatment given to projecting or receding features in stone, wood and other materials, by means of curved forms, whereby those features are accentuated and varied owing to the play of light and shade on the surfaces. The principal characteristics of all the European styles are to be found in the mouldings employed in them and in their ornamental decoration ”

“ 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. ”

“ In both the enriched ogee and the carved ovolo the design was never complete without the bead and reel underneath (figs. 20 and 21) , there being always two beads and four reels to each leaf or egg. When employed as the crowning moulding of an architrave, the ogee is always capped by a fillet; and the same applies to the cymatium of the cornice. When the ogee moulding was of small size and employed in a subordinate position, as is constantly done in Roman work, crowning the modillion or subdividing the fascia of the architrave, a simpler leaf pattern was employed. ”