ENTAB'LATURE (OP. ( ntablature, from en table- r, it/tabu/are. to construct a base. from Bat. in, in ± ML. tububerc, to tloor. from Lat. tabula. hoard). In architecture, the crowning part of a structure. It. is used, for example, of the fillet. eyma, and astragal at the top of an Egyptian wall. But strictly speaking it is a term to designate in Greco-Roman architecture the horizontal mass supported by the columns a, far as the roof. In all the classic orders it consists of three sections, which are, beginning at the bottom: (1) architrave. resting directly on the columns, (2) frieze. (3) cornice. There are six forms: The Doric, the Tuscan, the ; Ionic• the Roman Ionic. the Corinthian, and the Composite. both the latter being entirely Roman. The Doric architecture was higher in propor tion than that of any other style: it was also t he sin] plest, being a pure ly flat surface. The Tuscan architrave was somewhat thin ner. The Tonic ar chitrave consisted of two or three Ilat bands projecting like inverted steps and crowned by a couple of fine moldings. The Corinthian differed from it only slightly in Roman times by the occasional addition of stir loop ornamentation on one or more of the bands. The Composite was similar. The Doric frieze was divided into triglyphs and metopes, the latter bring usually tilled with sculptured, painted, or ntlixed ornamentation. The same is true of its modification, the 'Tuscan. 'the Ionic frieze. on the contrary, is vontinumis and often carved in relief with figures, or, esiweially later, with ornaments. The ornamented frieze was espe cially co:ninon in the Roman Tonic, Corinthian, and Composite friezes. whit.]: are merely modi fier:lions of the Ionic. The upper member, or
cornice, eorresponds to the roof and eaves, and (saisists of bed-inoldings• surmounted corona, and coma or cymatinin. Its soffit is ornamented with rosettes. pa tera.. and panels in Roman times, more simply, with gotta•, in the Creek Doric. There is usually, except in the Doric, a row of (lentils holm.: the cyma and tenia.
The term entablature is of late origin; the group of th TNc menil)CTS it IICSig11:114's WAS original and constant in Greek architecture. It had a practical origin. being derived from the Trio ruction. It connected by some authorities with the early construction in wood, especially in the Doric style. In Ronan times its origin and purpose were forgotten, and it woos often 11.4•d for in other than the original po,ition at the top of a building. For in-4.111,T., it high ha qv or podium of a building or statue; it \VAS curved about an arch 101 II Of oreltivolts The entablature survived during the Middle Ages in certain countries where forms survived or were imitated, as in Provence (France) and Italy (Roman province). The Ionic frieze entered largely into mediaeval mold ings everywhere: But it is easier to find ex amples in which medieval artists reproduced separate parts of the entablature than eases where the entire group was used. It was re vived with strict rules by Renaissance artists, especially by purists like Vignola and Palladio, who followed Vitruvius, and went beyond him in given laws of proportions for its different parts. See CoLUMN, and consult the authorities there referred to.