Ionic order cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart. Since Vitruvius, a female character has been ascribed to the Ionic (in contrast to the masculine Doric). The major features of the Ionic order are the volutes of its capital, which have been the subject of much theoretical and practical discourse, based on a brief and obscure passage in Vitruvius. The only tools required to design these features were a straight-edge, a right angle, string (to establish half-lengths) and a compass. Below the volutes, the Ionic column may have a wide collar or banding separating the capital from the fluted shaft (as in, for
I quattro libri dell'architettura First book discusses building materials and techniques. It documents five classical orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, composite) in all their parts (bases, columns, architraves, arches, capitals, trabeations), as well as discussing other building elements (vaulted ceilings, floors, doors and windows, fireplaces, roofs and stairs). The Second book covers the designs of private urban townhouses and country villas of the 1500s, in and around Venice, almost all designed by Palladio himself. This includes nine palazzi, 22 villas (13 of them completed, another 5 partly completed), and a series of unrealized projects. The plates of completed projects sometimes differ from the buildings