Entablature

Rules that use the word

Step the wall forward to the centre. Build up a façade in layers: let the wall advance in stages towards the central bay, double the pilasters or columns as it advances, and break the entablature forward over every support.

The primitive hut. Judge every building against the first shelter: four trees for columns, branches laid across them for the entablature, and a pitched roof whose end makes the pediment. These three are the essential parts; all else is added.

The column must stand free. Let columns stand free, round and upright, carrying a straight entablature directly; do not engage them in walls, replace them with pilasters, or set them on pedestals.

The three parts of an order. An order consists of a column (base, shaft and capital) carrying an entablature (architrave, frieze and cornice), optionally raised on a pedestal (plinth, die and cap). Each part is proportioned to the lower diameter of the column.

Vignola’s general rule: 4 : 12 : 3. Divide the whole height into nineteen parts: four for the pedestal, twelve for the column, three for the entablature. Without a pedestal, divide it into fifteen, giving twelve to the column and three to the entablature.

Palladio’s orders. Make the Tuscan column 7 diameters high, the Doric 8 with its base, the Ionic 9, the Corinthian 9½ and the Composite 10; give Tuscan and Doric an entablature of about a quarter of the column, the richer orders a fifth.

Where it appears in the book

In the chapters What Is Architecture?, How to Use This Book, Post and Lintel, The Anatomy of an Order, The Tuscan Order, The Ionic Order, The Corinthian Order, The Composite Order.

A feature of Ancient Roman, Hindu Temple: Dravida (South Indian), Neoclassical architecture.

Nearby in the glossary

Emplekton · Enfilade · Engawa · English bond · Entasis · Equilateral arch · Espalier · Esquisse