Ogee
|
|
Ogee_arch.gif
Ogee is a shape consisting of a concave arc flowing into a convex arc, so forming an S-shaped curve with vertical ends. The ogee curve is an analogue of a cyma curve, the difference being that a cyma has horizontal rather than vertical ends. An alternative name for ogee is cyma reversa.
In architecture, the ogee shape is one of the characteristics of the Gothic style, especially decorative elements in the 14th and 15th century late Gothic styles called Flamboyant in France and Decorated in England.
An ogee moulding, a molding of ogee profile framed between square sections is part of the standard classical decorative vocabulary, adopted from architrave and cornice moldings of the Ionic order and Corinthian order. An ogee is part of the "crown molding" that is frequently used at the top of a piece of case furniture, or capping a baseboard or plinth or where a wall meets the ceiling. An ogee molding may be run in plaster or wood, or cut in stone or brickwork.
To minimize erosion, the downstream face of a dam spillway is usually an ogee curve.
An ogee is also short for an ogee clock, a common kind of weight-driven 19th-century pendulum clock in a simplified Gothic taste, made in the United States for a mantelpiece or to sit upon a wall bracket. An ogee clock is rectangular, with ogee-profile molding that frames a central glass door that protects the clock face and the pendulum. The door usually carries a painted scene in the area beneath the face. Ogee clocks are one of the most commonly encountered varieties of American antique clocks.
See also: ogiveTemplate:Arch-stub