Architectural molding fragment from Charleston, South Carolina

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A molding fragment from Charleston, South Carolina. The fragment is from a horizontal architectural element of a building. The body is composed of a grayish portland cement with a decorative plaster of Paris surface layer that is finished in gray paint. The back of the fragment is covered with sandy colored stucco. The profile of the fragment is Y-shaped at the top with a thick branch and a taller, thinner branch. The thin branch, at the back of the fragment, is jagged and missing portions from the top and left edges. The thicker branch forms the top of the decorative surface; it is a diagonal slope that terminates into two small convex hallows. At the bottom of the fragment is a cymba-recta molding with a square edge that curves outwards. The decorative top and bottom edges of the fragment are intact. The fragment's sides have broken and rough edges.

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