The characteristic and prevailing details are the fan and delicate festoons of leaves or husks, at times of beads.
The anthemion is much used on friezes and borders, and compound animal forms, such as the Sphinx, were borrowed from the antique, the same source doubtless inspiring the employment of vases, altars, and tripods.
Medallions occur occupied by figures after the manner of the Greek vases. In some instances these were in pottery, the work of Wedgwood.
The general structural form was architectural, the mouldings slight in projection and refined in their profiles being decorated by orthodox enrichments.
The foliage is mostly artificial in character, the leaf lobes in those of the acanthus type being orderly in arrangement with regard to profile and radial display, with comparatively little modelling.
A similar revival of the Antique succeeded the Revolution in France, in the Empire style, which, more literal in reproduction than the Adam work, is characterised with, at times, undesirable severity and precision of detail, particularly in the treatment of the human figure.
The system of the acanthus leaf is based entirely on radiation, the tines and veinings being arranged in consistently diverging directions from a common base or start-point. Whether the whole leaf be displayed or merely the half leaf used, the shape should be bounded by general lines controlling the lobes and their serrations--the mass shape forming a satisfactory silhouette.
The length of the lobes should be relative to the breadth of the leaf, the maximum length agreeing with the maximum width, and the others in proportion.
The edges or outlines of serrations and lobes should also be controlled by radial lines from the base.
[Illustration: No. 253. Construction of the Acanthus Leaf.]
In turn-overs and curling or twisting lobes the silhouette shape and composing line must be considered.
The apex of leaf terminates with a central lobe balanced by side lobes repeated throughout. In treatment these may be displayed clear of each other, or they may overlap, but care must be taken to avoid confusion in effect.
Appreciation of design by the individual is largely a matter of temperament, though it may be due to some extent to acquired knowledge. Generally, few are conscious of any guiding principle, and selection in their case is mostly the result of fashion or custom. To others certain colours and forms have an appeal, though they may be quite unconscious of, or unable to explain the attraction other than it suits their taste.