We find several instances of a similar application of men and animals, in one case of elephants, in the temples of India, as in the temple of Elephanta, that near Vellore, and several others.
The molten sea, spoken of in Holy Writ, was supported by twelve bulb; and in the Odyssey of Homer, book vii. verse 118, we find the effigies of animals, both rational and irrational, employed as decorations. We do not learn, how ever, that these latter representations were employed as columns to support an entablature ; and there is reason to believe that they were nothing more than ornamental sculp tures. In Stewart's Antiquities of Athens, we find a most beautiful specimen of Caryatie figures supporting an entabla ture, consisting of an architrave cornice of a very elegant profile.
The examples to be found amongst the Greeks are those in the temple of Pandrosus, and five specimens out of six previously existing, supporting an entablature adjacent to the temple of Erectheus. In this case there is no frieze, but the entablature is carried to an extraordinary height.
Various fragments of male figures are also met with among the Homan antiquities, which, from their attitudes and orna ments, appear to have supported the entablatures of buildings.
Besides Cars atides and Persians. it is sometimes customary to support the entablatures with figures, of which the upper part represents the head and breast of the human body, and the lower part an inverted frustrum of a square pyramid, with the feet sometimes projecting out below, as it' the body had been partly cased: figures of this form are called Termini; and had their origin in stones used by the ancients for mark ing out the hmits of property belonging to Numa Pompilius, in order to render these boundaries sacred, con verted the Terminus into a deity, and built a temple, dedicated to him, on the Tarpeian Mount, wherein lie was represented by a stone, which in the course of time was sculptured into the form of a human head and shoulders, with the lower parts as we have just described. On particular occasions, this idol was adorned with garlands.
Persian figures are generally charged with a Doric entab lature ; the Caryatides, with an Ionic or Corinthian archi trave cornice ; and the Termini, with an entablature of any of the three Grecian orders, according as they were them selves decorated.
Male figures may he introduced with propriety, in arsenals, or galleries of armour, in guard-rooms, and other places devoted to military alrairs ; they may either represent the figures of captives, or of martial virtues ; such as Strength, Valour, Wisdom, Prudence, Fortitude, &c.
As these figures should be of a striking character, they may be of any colossal size that will agree with the archi tecture of other parts of the building.
In composing Caryatides, the most graceful attitudes and pleasant features should be chosen ; and, to prevent an appearance of stiffness, the. drapery and features should be varied in the different figures of the range ; at the same time, a general uniformity of shape should be preserved throughoo. They should always be of a moderate size, or they will appear monstrous. and destroy those sensations, which representations of the fifir sex ought to inspire.
Le Cle•c says they may be advantageously employed for sustaining the canopy of a throne : in which ease, they should be represented under the figures and symbols of heroic virtues. In banqueting-rooms, ball-rooms, or other apart ments of recreation, they must bear such characteristics as are calculated to inspire mirth and promote festivity.
As Termini are susceptible of a variety of decorations, they may be employed as embellishments for gardens and fields ; IA here they may represent Jupiter, the protector of boundaries ; or some of the rural deities, as Pan, Flora, Pomona, Vertumnus, Ceres, Priapus, Taunus. Sylvanus, Nymphs, and Satyrs. They are also much employed in chimney-pieces and other interior compositions.
CASE (from the French, eaisse,) an outside covering, envelope, box, or sheath ; applied generally to such ciiverings as completely surround the object enclosed. In building, it means the shell or carcase of a house.