Chapter IX dealt with methods of developing continuous or repeating

ornament (bands or borders). This leaves enclosed and free forms of surface enrichment to be considered in this chapter.

As an enclosed form, a panel may be enriched by geometric, natural, or artificial ornament. It is enclosed in a definite boundary of bands or lines and may be a square or other polygon, circle, ellipse, lunette, spandrel, lozenge, or triangle. As the decoration does not have the continuous repeating movement of the border and as it covers an enclosed area, it is necessarily treated in a different manner from either band or border. Its object is to decorate a plane surface. The enrichment may be made by means of carving, inlaying, or painting.

[Sidenote: Free Ornament]

Free ornament means the use of motives not severely enclosed by bands or panels. Free ornament is generally applied to centers or upper portions of surfaces to relieve a monotonous area not suited to either panel or border treatment. It may have an upward or a radial movement dependent upon the character of the member to be enriched.

[Sidenote: Summary]

We then have three forms of possible surface enrichment: repeating or continuous motives, enclosed motives, and free motives. Our next point is to consider where the last two may be used appropriately in surface enrichment.

[Sidenote: Zone of Enrichment]

The panel of a small primary mass of wood may be enriched at any one of three places: first, at the margins; second, at the center; third, over the entire surface. The exact position is a matter to be determined by the structural design and the utilitarian requirements of the problem. For example, a bread board or taboret top would require the enrichment in the margin with the center left free. A table leg might require an enrichment in the center of the upper portion of the leg, while a square panel to be inserted in a door, Figure 233, Page 124, might require full surface treatment.

[Sidenote: Structural Reinforcement]

Each area of panel enrichment should have one or more accented points known as points of concentration. The design should become more prominent at these places and cause the eye to rest for a moment before passing to the next point of prominence. The accented portion of the design at these points should be so related to the structure that it apparently reinforces the structure as a whole. Corners, centers of edges, and geometric centers are salient parts of a structure; we shall therefore be likely to find our points of concentration coinciding with them. Let us then consider the first of these arrangements as applied to enclosed enrichment.

MARGINAL PANEL ENRICHMENT

ENCLOSED ENRICHMENT FOR PARTLY ENRICHED SURFACES

Rule 7a. _Marginal panel enrichment should parallel or be related to the outlines of the primary mass and to the panel it is to enrich._

Rule 7b. _Marginal points of concentration in panels should be placed (1) preferably at the corner or (2) in the center of each margin._

Rule 7c. _To insure unity of design in panels, the elements composing the points of concentration and the links connecting them must be related to the panel contour and to each other._

[Sidenote: Marginal Zone Enrichment]

The marginal method of enrichment may be used when it is impossible to enrich the entire surface because the center is to be used for utilitarian purposes or because it would be aesthetically unwise to enrich the entire surface. The marginal zone is adapted to enriching box tops, stands, table tops, and similar surfaces designed preferably with the thought of being seen from above. We shall call such surfaces horizontal planes.

As the design is to be limited to the margin, the panel outline is bound to parallel the contours, or outlines, of the surface to be enriched. It is well to begin the design by creating a panel parallel to the outlines of the enriched surface. Figure 218. The next step is to place the point of concentration in the marginal zone and within this figure. Common usage dictates the _corners_ as the proper points. [Sidenote: Points of Concentration]

[Sidenote: Points of Concentration in the Corner of Margin]

It may be the designer's practice to use the single or double bands, Figures 218, 219, 220, with a single accentuation at the corners. The spots composing the point of concentration must have unity with the enclosing contours and with the remainder of the enrichment. Figure 220 is, in this respect, an improvement over Figure 219. But these examples are not _true_ enclosed panel enrichment. They are the borders of