Meaning of auricular style | Babel Free

Definitions

An ornamental style of the first half of the 17th century, characterized by stylized and softly flowing abstract shapes in relief.

historical, uncountable

Examples

“Later, following the general tendency towards a more 'painterly' taste, came the soft Ohrmuschel or auricular style of about 1620 and after, characterized by forms like parts of conch shells or the gristle of an ear.”

“The choice and treatment of the motifs which form the inner ornamental border - rams' heads and drapery - suggest a Northern goldsmith familiar with the early auricular style.”

“The auricular style was created by two members of the Utrecht goldsmithing family of van Vianen.”

“The auricular style appears to have come to Northern Europe via the engravings of Hendrick Goltzius, who may have seen it in Tuscany during his visit to Italy in 1591.”

“The subtlety and refinement of the auricular style as practised by the Van Vianens plainly appealed very considerably to Charles [I, King of England], not least because they were so different from the humdrum or conservative Late Mannerist style of English goldsmith's work. For if Christian [van Vianen] was not an innovator, yet he was at his best a most excellent workman in the auricular style.”

“JHM B 96 Basin [...] In the centre section of the oval plate there is an embossed relief showing the judgement of Paris. The broad rim is formed in auricular style with shells and has a scalloped edge.”

“An important founding element was a form of late Mannerist ornament now called auricular, named after the fleshy parts of the ear, which it somewhat resembles. The auricular style, which fully emerged in the earliest years of the seventeenth century, sprang from an interest in fleshy forms, shells and scaly shapes, which began in the Low Countries in the 1550s, inspired by a fashion for dripping grottoes inhabited by scaly creatures.”

CEFR level