Flutings

Flutings, or Flutes, a term of cleissical architecture, denoting the hollows or channels carved perpendicularly on the surface of columns. The Tuscan order alone has no flutings. On the Doric column there are 20, which are carried up as far as the capital, and are separated by a sharp edge or arris. Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite columns have 24 flutes, alternating with small fillets; in these orders the fluting ceases below the neck and above the base of the column. A series of convex beads is sometimes worked in the flutes to about a third of their height; this moulding, which is called cabling, does not occur in the Doric order. A kind of flute may sometimes be seen on Norman pillars, as, for example, in the crypt of Canterbury cathedral; and, as late as the 12th century, the ornament was used in Italy and other parts of- the Continent. The mediaeval flutings were often arranged in diagonal patterns, and afterwards assumed zigzag and other forms.