fluting and reeding

fluting and reeding, in architectural decoration, surfaces worked into a regular series of (vertical) concave grooves or convex ridges, frequently used on columns. In Classical architecture fluting and reeding are used in the columns of all the orders except the Tuscan. In the Doric order there are 20 grooves on a column and in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders there are 24.

Sometimes, although not in the Doric, the flutes are partly filled by a small, round, convex molding, or bead, and are then known as cabled; this decoration does not usually extend higher than one-third of the shaft. Sometimes channeling, slightly resembling fluting, is found on Norman pillars, an instance of which is found in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, Eng. Exactly the same kind of ornament occurs frequently in Germany—e.g., in the crypt of Roda Rolduc, near Aachen, which, it has been suggested, might be copied from Canterbury, and in many 12th-century buildings in other parts of Europe. Sometimes the flutings are carried diagonally across the columns, as in the pillars of the cathedral at Durham, Eng.