Architectural fragment (mutule)

c. 1773

Measurements

4-1/4 in x 15-7/8 in x 7-7/8 inj

Materials

Hard pine

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

2014.19

Inscription

"WILLIAM CORBIT MANSION 1771" is engraved onto a brass plaque attached to the fragment.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

This architectural fragment is a highly specific decorative element of Georgian architecture.  Called a mutule, it is part of the vocabulary of the Doric order.  Imitating a stone block, it formed part of the cornice.  One was placed over each triglyph, decorative composition of three upright elements that were spaced equally across a facia.  The underside of the mutule displayed two or three rows of short cylinders, call guttae.  This mutule, made of several smaller pieces of hard pine, is painted a sand-encrusted tan color, probably intended to represent stone.

Mutules of different sizes occur on the Corbit house.  Where this particular fragment was used is unknown.