egg-and-dart

Egg-and-dart motif from Meyer's Ornament

Egg-and-dart is an ornamental device often carved in wood, stone, or plaster quarter-round ovolo mouldings, consisting of an egg-shaped object alternating with an element shaped like an arrow, anchor or dart. Egg-and-dart enrichment of the ovolo molding of the Ionic capital is found in Ancient Greek architecture at the Erechtheion and was used by the Romans.^[1]

Egg-and-dart molding at the top of an Ionic capital

This design motif has been common in the classical architecture of Europe since the Renaissance.

In popular culture

Don Henley of the rock group The Eagles in "Waiting in the Weeds", on their 2007 release, Long Road Out Of Eden, makes reference to "the tide's eternal tune, the phases of the moon, the chambers of the heart, the egg-and-dart." The allusion is apparently in keeping with the song's theme of life's ongoing and dependable cycles, i.e., repeating patterns.

Notes

References

• Lewis, Philippa; G. Darley (1986). Dictionary of Ornament. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-394-50931-5. 

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