Egg-and-dart or
Egg-and-tongue is an
ornamental device often carved in wood, stone, or plaster quarter-round
ovolo moulding, 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
Roman.Lucy T. Shoe,
Profiles of Greek Mouldings 1936, supplemented by Shoe, "Greek Mouldings of Kos and Rhodes",
Hesperia 19.4 (October - December 1950:338-369 and illustrations) This
design motif has been common in the
classical architecture of Europe since the
Renaissance.<!--This is just not true:As a mass-produced architectural motif at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, it can, when seen along side
dentils (tooth-like blocks of wood in rows) be used to date a building to the
Edwardian period which began with the death of
Queen Victoria in 1903.-->
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...
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