Egyptian columns
The plant columns of Egypt (papyrus open and closed, lotus and palm) and the fluted “proto-Doric” shafts of Beni Hasan, measured in lower diameters.
The rules it illustrates
The column is a plant. Model the column on a plant of the Nile (a papyrus stem or bundle, a bundle of lotus, a palm trunk), bound at the neck with five bands, standing on a round base disc and carrying a small square abacus.
Open flowers in the light, buds in the shade. Give the columns of the tall, clerestory-lit central aisle open papyrus capitals and those of the lower aisles closed buds.
The fluted shaft before the Greeks. Cut a shaft with sixteen shallow flutes or facets, give it a square abacus and a low round base: the “proto-Doric” column of the Middle Kingdom rock tombs at Beni Hasan.
Where it appears in the book
In the styles Ancient Egyptian.
In the chapters Post and Lintel, The Ancient World.