![]() ![]() Ionic entablatures are approximately 1/5 of the height of the Order as a whole and consist of 3 main parts (bottom to top): the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice. Occasionally, in between the top of the column shaft and the bottom of the capital’s echinus featured an extended neck that was adorned with palmette, anthemion, or honeysuckle ornamentation, as seen on the columns at the Erechtheion. The echinus transitions into two, parallel pairs of volutes that are around 2/3 the diameter of the column shaft in height and are topped off by a rectangular abacus, which is greatly smaller than the abacus in the Doric Order and the abacus is generally enriched with a molded pattern – such as a lamb’s tongue design, for instance – around its rim. Flutes at the top of the column shaft are also rounded off before meeting the capital’s echinus that is generally ornamented on the front and back with egg-and-dart detailing above a bead-and-reel molding pattern. The earliest Attic bases did not have square plinths below the base molding. The column shaft terminates downward to an Ionic (or Attic) base that consists of two convex tori (an upper and lower ring) that are divided by a concave section called a scotia. Typically, the Ionic Order is exemplified by slender proportions and has a column height between 8 and 9-1/2 diameters, while the column shaft is predominately fluted (24) times around with the flutes being rounded off instead of ending at both the top and bottom of the column shaft. Some of the earliest Greek Ionic capitals are seen at the temple of Apollo, in Bassae as well as at the Erechtheum, in Athens. Egyptian artwork conveys scroll-like capital details that many have said resemble rams’ horns, shells, or even the scroll pattern of rolled-up papyrus and many ancient Ionic capitals possess spirals that mimic the curvature of plant life. It is believed that the first Ionic columns were constructed and represented the Greek goddesses, Hera (island of Samos) and, Artemis (in Ephesus).Īlthough the origins of the Ionic Order are clear, the origins of the Ionic capital – itself – are obscure. This connection between column and female figure was also seen in early Egyptian temples honoring female deities, such as the constructed caryatid of the goddess Hathor. ![]() Vitruvius correlated the Ionic Order with femininity by linking the column’s slender proportions to the female figure and associating the capital’s scrolls to the curls of a woman’s hair. The most obvious features of the Ionic Order were its more slender proportions as well as the unique volutes, or scrolls, of the capital. The development of this order gave way to more noticeably complex, elaborate, and ornate detailing, which was a clear deviation and evolution of the earlier Doric Order – that was, in essence, more primitive and austere. The Ionic Order derives from the Grecians who occupied Ionia, a Greek city-state that neighbored the Greek islands predominately around the middle of the 6 th century. ![]()
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