Illustrated Architecture Dictionary

Drop / Gutta
(pron. GUT a; plural: guttae)

   
Left: Triglyph and guttae ... Center: Mutules finished with guttae ... Right: Renaissance guttae

Small carved cones usually found under the triglyphs or mutules of a Doric entablature  (1st illustration above)

Sometimes cylindrical, as in ‘taenia with continuous guttae’ (see illustration below).

Mutules are finished with guttae.

Thought to represent pegs used in original wood construction of Greek temples.

In the Renaissance, guttae are often stylized in the shape of a pyramid (2nd illustration above)

Latin: "gutta" = drop. Plural: guttae (pron. GUT ee)
Illustration :  Elevation, Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus, Vol. II, Chapter IV, Plate III, Antiquities of Athens, by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett
 "The anta [corner] capital is a simplified, albeit highly refined version of the Greek Doric order. In place of triglyphs, the entablature’s  frieze is decorated with a series of olive wreaths–the olive wreath being an ancient Greek symbol of victory, such as was awarded to the winners of events in the Olympic Games. 

"Attached to the underside of the taenia (the band between the frieze and architrave) is row of cylindrical guttae... the so-called ‘taenia with continuous guttae’..."


Found in classical Greek and Roman architecture and derivatives, including Beaux Arts Classicism, Classical Revival, Federal, Georgian Revival, Greek Revival, Neoclassicism, Renaissance Revival, Second Empire

Examples from Buffalo architecture:

Examples from Europe:

Photos and their arrangement © 2002, 2008 Chuck LaChiusa
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