Frederick Wilbur carves a traditional foliage design
The ubiquitous acanthus motif has been stylised more than any other, showing up on all sorts of objects, from silverware to glazed tiles, from manuscript borders to their ivory covers, being simplified on one hand and contorted almost beyond recognition on the other.
The acanthus plant is indigenous to the Mediterranean area. There are two species of acanthus – Acanthus spinosus and Acanthus mollis. The former has a sharply pointed leaf, crinkly and ragged and presenting many different planes. The leaf lets have deep valleys which cause the edges to undulate steeply, and it is these two characteristics that are emphasised in the surface modelling of the leaf. There is a pattern in the chaos, however, and the natural leaf can be regularised easily. The Greek version used on Corinthian capitals and brackets is of this variety. The Romans tended to prefer the rounded lobes of Acanthus mollis.
The Acanthus rinceau, in which swirls of leaves create spiral patterns, first appeared in Roman architecture and subsequently became a favourite Renaissance motif for friezes and panels. This free-f lowing adaptation was one of the inspirations for the baroque carvings of Grinling Gibbons. The acanthus motif was easily transplanted to pieces of furniture, on screens, frames, legs and brackets.
The conventional acanthus leaf carving usually has a prominent centre stem or vein, and the stems of the side leaves curve out from it. The side leaves are made up of a central pointed lobe (or a rounded ‘Roman’ lobe) and a number of smaller lobes of similar shape on either side. These side leaves usually overlap one another in succession, as if they have been bunched together, and create a teardrop-shaped ‘eye’ between them. The side leaf lets become smaller as they approach the tip of the main leaf. On Corinthian capitals or brackets – or, indeed, almost everywhere else – the tips of the leaves curl outwards from the ground.
Carving the acanthus moulding
In this version of the foliage moulding, the intention is to give the leaf an uncluttered formality. The cyma reversa profile is combined with a bead to allow the tips of the leaves to curl away from the cyma background. The spots of light created by the curling leaves make the linear quality of the moulding more interesting. Of ten the prominent curves of the moulding are given more modelling in order to catch the light, while the concave areas under the curls are not modelled at all, but simply carry the shapes of the leaves from base to curl.
To create a workable pattern, allowance must be made for the curvature of the profile and the curled leaf tip, as well as the spacing between elements. The problem of mitres cutting through elements, as in egg and dart, is minimised here because the centre stem is calculated to fall on the mitre joint and the leaves spaced accordingly. The stretching or compressing of the primary leaf will depend on the specific length of moulding required. The exception is in very short returns, where a whole leaf will not fit after the half-units of the mitres have been allowed for. In fudging the design around such returns, the frontal elevation should be kept in mind. The increments should appear to be evenly spaced on either side of the returns.
In the sequence shown here, the curl will not have much detail so it can be dealt with after the main part of the leaf has been drawn. Tape a piece of tracing paper over the profile, aligning the edge with the bottom edge of the moulding, and draw a perpendicular line representing the middle of the leaf. The proportion between the width of leaf along the run and the height of leaf across the width of moulding varies greatly in historical examples. The space between primary leaves can be left as clear ground or filled with a secondary layer of leaves (often of different appearance or size) or additional elements such as buds, shells, etc.
After the main part of the leaf has been designed, the curl should be considered. A pattern should now be made, and the units and half-units marked on the lengths of moulding. Parallel markings should be made to locate the ‘eyes’ and any other salient features of the design. The first stage of carving is to isolate the curl so the leaves below can be set in. The astragal between the curls should be cut away, using either a back saw or simply a series of stop-cuts with the chisel. Waste the bead down to the cyma profile, making sure that the acute corner created by the machining of the bead is carved away.
This moulding is set in and grounded like any other, but it is a good idea to ‘drill’ the eyes first (with a No.9 gouge spun between the palms) because it is easy to locate these accurately. It may be necessary to set in and ground in several stages so as to gain sufficient depth to allow for modelling of overlapping leaves, but, as in any relief, it is important to avoid making the side walls irregular or fuzzy. Enough depth must be obtained to make the leaves readily identifiable as such and to make them ‘pop’ out or grow out of the background; otherwise they may look pasted on. There is no need for undercutting, however. Stabbing with No.7 gouges ensures the leaflets have a nice curve to them.
When modelling the leaf, the stem is first defined with a parting tool and then rounded with a turned-over gouge. The leaf lets are then modelled with a shallow gouge and given more definition with a veiner. These depressions should be carried down to the base of the moulding, so that an undulating line is created at the bottom fillet or edge of the cyma (which will eventually be mounted against a background of some sort). Take care not to mar the fillet; you may need to clean up this plane with a flat chisel.
The curl is divided into three or more leaves, the central one of which comes to a point, while the leaf lets to either side are wider. To create the impression of actually rolling over, a deep gouge is used from the side of the leaf to undercut the bead. To enhance this roll, the sides of the bead are rounded downwards to either side so that the side leaflets appear lower than the main leaf let.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FREDERICK WILBUR, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED