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Period Features: The Ionic Column

This is week two of my whistle-stop guide to some basic architectural features. Last week was about simple, fat and plain Doric columns – this week it’s the turn of the Ionic; tall, graceful, slim and a little mor ...

This is week two of my whistle-stop guide to some basic architectural features. Last week was about simple, fat and plain Doric columns – this week it’s the turn of the Ionic; tall, graceful, slim and a little more fancy. The British Museum has a whole colonnade of them wrapped around its front.

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British Museum 1841-47

The basic rules which apply to the Ionic is that it should be slimmer, more graceful looking, always fluted with curls at the top (the capital), known as volutes, and a little extra pad at the bottom between it and the base plate (stylobate or platform). And that’s it – easy. It can have a slightly fancier top and bottom but let’s not complicate matters – this is what the usual ionic capital looks like close up.

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Actually, you will notice the three oval shapes between the curls, this is a little fancy footwork in the form of what is known as the egg and dart pattern – for quite obvious reasons.

Lastly, here’s a diagram for real swots, which explains it all clearly. See you next week for the flamboyant, Corinthian column.

ionic sketch

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