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The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order and the Corinthian order. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite order. Of the three classical canonic orders, the Corinthian order has the narrowest columns, followed by the Ionic order, with the Doric order having the widest columns.
The Ionic capital is characterized by the use of . Ionic normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform while the cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart.
The ancient architect and architectural historian Vitruvius associates the Ionic with feminine proportions (the Doric representing the masculine).
Originally, the volutes lay in a single plane ( illustration at right); then it was seen that they could be angled out on the corners. This feature of the Ionic order made it more pliant and satisfactory than the Doric to critical eyes in the 4th century BC: angling the volutes on the corner columns ensured that they "read" equally when seen from either front or side facade. However, some classical artists viewed this as unsatisfactory, feeling that the placement of Ionic columns at building corners required a distortion at the expense of the capital's structural logic; the Corinthian order would solve this by reading equally well from all angles. The 16th-century Renaissance architect and theorist Vincenzo Scamozzi designed a version of such a perfectly four-sided Ionic capital that it became standard; when a Greek Ionic order was eventually reintroduced in the later 18th century Greek Revival, it conveyed an air of archaic freshness and primitive, perhaps even republican, vitality.A brief and accessible sketch of this familiar aspect of the Greek Revival "idea of primitivism, of searching back to the true, untainted sources of architectural beauty" (p. 38) and of the aspects of Ledoux is briskly treated in Sir John Summerson, The Classical Language of Architecture (MIT Press) 1963; in discussions of American Greek Revival, the republic connotations of the Greek orders present an inescapable commonplace: "The Greek Revival style arose out of a young nation's desire to identify with the ideals of the ancient Greek Republic." ( (Rensselaer County Historical Society) "Architectural Styles in Rensselaer County" (New York ); "Greece, the world's first democracy, seemed an appropriate philosophical reference point for a self-confident new republic." ( (Old-House Journal), James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell, "Greek Revival in America: From Tara to farmhouse temples." ) are typical statements, selected almost at random from texts accessible on-line.
Ionic columns are most often fluted. After a little early experimentation, the number of hollow flutes in the shaft settled at 24. This standardization kept the fluting in a familiar proportion to the diameter of the column at any scale, even when the height of the column was exaggerated. Unlike Greek Doric fluting, which runs out to an arris or sharp edge, that was easily damaged by people brushing it as they passed by, Ionic fluting leaves a little flat-seeming surface of the column surface between each hollow (in fact it is a small segment of a circle around the column).Lawrence, A. W., Greek Architecture, p. 130, 1957, Penguin, Pelican history of art. Lawrence dates this innovation to c. 500 BC
In some instances, the fluting has been omitted. English architect Inigo Jones introduced a note of sobriety with plain Ionic columns on his Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, and when Beaux-Arts architect John Russell Pope wanted to convey the manly stamina combined with intellect of Theodore Roosevelt, he left colossal Ionic columns unfluted on the Roosevelt memorial at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, for an unusual impression of strength and stature. Wabash Railroad architect R.E. Mohr included eight unfluted Ionic frontal columns on his 1928 design for the railroad's Delmar Boulevard station in St. Louis.
The entablature resting on the columns has three parts: a plain architrave divided into two, or more generally three, bands, with a frieze resting on it that may be richly sculptural, and a cornice built up with (like the closely spaced ends of joists), with a corona ("crown") and cyma ("ogee") molding to support the projecting roof. Pictorial, often narrative, bas-relief frieze carving provides a characteristic feature of the Ionic order, in the area where the Doric order is articulated with . Roman and Renaissance practice condensed the height of the entablature by reducing the proportions of the architrave, which made the frieze more prominent.
In order not to protrude unduly from the wall, these anta capitals usually display a rather flat surface, so that the capital has more or less a rectangular-shaped structure overall. The Ionic anta capital, in contrast to the regular column capitals, is highly decorated and generally includes bands of alternating lotus flower and , and bands of egg-and-dart and beads and reels patterns, in order to maintain continuity with the decorative frieze lining the top of the walls. This difference with the column capitals disappeared with Roman times when anta or pilaster capitals have designs very similar to those of the column capitals.The Classical Language of Architecture by John Summerson, p.47 "Anta" entry [4] The Ionic anta capitals as can be seen in the Ionic order temple of the Erechtheion (circa 410 BCE), are characteristically rectangular Ionic anta capitals, with extensive bands of floral patterns in prolongation of adjoining friezes.
Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east, a few examples of the Ionic order can be found as far as Pakistan with the Jandial near Taxila. Several examples of capitals displaying Ionic influences can be seen as far away as Patna, India, especially with the Pataliputra capital, dated to the 3rd century BC, and seemingly derived from the design of the Ionic anta capital,"These flat, splaying members with cavetto sides, have a long history in Greek architecture as anta capitals, and the rolls at upper and lower sides are also seen" John Boardman, "The Origins of Indian Stone Architecture", p.19 : "An interesting flat capital which, though differing from the classic forms, bears a distinct resemblance to the capitals of the pilasters of the Temple of Apollo Didymaeos at Miletos" [5]A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture by Deborah S. Hutton, John Wiley & Sons, 2015, p.438 [6] or the Sarnath capital, which has been described as "Perso-Ionic", or "quasi-Ionic".
Vitruvius, a practicing architect who worked in the time of Augustus, reports that the Doric column had its initial basis in the proportions of the male body, while Ionic columns took on a "slenderness" inspired by the female body. Though he does not name his source for such a self-conscious and "literary" approach, it must be in traditions passed on from Hellenistic architects, such as Hermogenes of Priene, the architect of a famed temple of Artemis at Magnesia on the Meander in Lydia (now Türkiye).
Renaissance architectural theorists took his hints to interpret the Ionic order as matronly in comparison to the Doric order, though not as wholly feminine as the Corinthian order. The Ionic is a natural order for post-Renaissance libraries and courts of justice, learned and civilized. Because no treatises on classical architecture survive earlier than that of Vitruvius, identification of such "meaning" in architectural elements as it was understood in the 5th and 4th centuries BC remains tenuous, though during the Renaissance it became part of the conventional "speech" of classicism.Summerson 1963.
From the 17th century onwards, a much admired and copied version of Ionic was that which could be seen in the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome, first clearly presented in a detailed engraving in Antoine Desgodetz, Les edifices antiques de Rome (Paris 1682).
File:Sphix of the Naxians, 570-560 BC, AM of Delphi, 201316.jpg|Ancient Greek Archaic Ionic capital of the Sphinx of Naxos, 560 BC, Naxian marble, Delphi Archaeological Museum, Delphi, Greece
File:Fig 1 The capital and base of the columns, together with the entablature Fig 2 A section of one quarter of the column, t - Stuart James & Revett Nicholas - 1762.jpg|Ancient Greek Ionic order of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera, Athens, 440 BC-destroyed in 1778
Templeofapolloepikouriosbassae.jpg|Ancient Greek Ionic columns in the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, Bassae, Greece, illustration by Charles Robert Cockerell, unknown architect, 429-400 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
ARCHITECTURE ORDERS Greeks Etruscan Roman (Doric Ionic Corinthian Tuscan Composite) by Paolo Villa ENG edition.pdf|Compared Ionic order with Doric order, Tuscan order, Corinthian order and Composite order orders; with stylobate
Erechtheion Temple.jpg|Ancient Greek Ionic columns of the Erechtheion, Athens, Greece, with parallel volutes, unknown architect, 421-405 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:29. Detail. The facade of the rock-cut tombs of Qizqapan, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. Probably Achaemenid (6th-5th century BCE) rather than Median.jpg|Ancient Near Eastern Ionic columns of a rock-cut tomb at Qyzqapan, Iraq, unknown architect, 5th-4th centuries BC (2025). 9788806235109, Einaudi. ISBN 9788806235109
File:Details van de Tempel van Portunus te Rome Dimostrazione in grande delle parti del tempio della Fortuna Virile (titel op object) Archeologische vondsten in en rond Rome (serietitel) Le Antichità Romane (serietitel), RP-P-OB-36.889.jpg|Roman Ionic corner capital from the Temple of Portunus, Rome, with two sides with volutes, and one for the corner of the facade projecting at a 45° angle, unknown architect, early 4th century BC
File:The Oval Plaza, built in the beginning of the 2nd century AD to connect the Cardo with the Sanctuary of Zeus, Gerasa, Jordan (33601218974).jpg|Roman Ionic columns of a colonnade of the oval plaza in Jerash, Jordan, unknown architect, 2nd-3rd centuries AD
File:Roman Forum Temple of Saturn.jpg|Roman Ionic columns of the Temple of Saturn, Rome, with diagonal volutes, unknown architect, 3rd of 4th centuries
Hagia Sophia (15468276434).jpg|Byzantine Ionic capital in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey, by Anthemius of Tralles or Isidore of Miletus, 6th century
07-Villa-Rotonda-Palladio.jpg|Renaissance Ionic columns of the Villa La Rotonda, outside Vicenza, Italy, by Andrea Palladio, 1567-1605
File:Interior Luca e Martina 33.JPG|Baroque Ionic columns in the Santi Luca e Martina, Rome, by Pietro da Cortona, 1634-1669 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
2017 Escultura. Palacio de Versalles P41.jpg|Baroque Ionic columns on the garden façade of the Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France, by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, 1678–1688
File:Coupe en jade (Louvre, MR 465).jpg|Baroque Ionic capital at the top of the base of a cup, by Michel Debourg, 1686-1687, jade and gilded silver, Louvre
Iglesia de San Carlos Borromeo, Viena, Austria, 2020-01-31, DD 52-54 HDR.jpg|Baroque Ionic columns in the Karlskirche, Vienna, Austria, 1715–1737, by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
File:2010.05.13.173929 Iglesia San Francisco Antigua Guatemala.jpg|Baroque Solomonic column Ionic columns of the Monastery of San Francisco, Antigua, Guatemala, unknown architect, early 17th century (2025). 9783848000340, h.f.ullmann. ISBN 9783848000340
File:Lille PdBA raoux vierges modernes.JPG|Rococo Ionic columns in Vierges modernes, painted by Jean Raoux, 1728, oil on canvas, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, France
20230209 Amalienburg Nymphenburg.jpg|Rococo Ionic pilasters on the facade of the Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany, by François de Cuvilliés, 1734-1739
Église Saint-Jacques de Tarascon 45.jpg|Rococo pilasters on the facade of the Église Saint-Jacques de Tarascon, Tarascon, France, by Jean-Baptiste Franque and Antoine Damour, 2nd half of the 18th century
Syon House (33315382913).jpg|Neoclassical Ionic columns at Syon House, London, by Robert Adam, 1761-1765 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:P1030075 (5015797888).jpg|Louis XVI style caryatids with Ionic capitals on their heads, on a jewelry locket of Marie-Antoinette, by Ferdinand Schwerdfeger, 1787, mahogany, mother-of-pearl inlays, paintings under glass, porcelain plate, and gilded bronzes, Chambre de la Reine, Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
Metropolitan museum of art (19593102431) (cropped).jpg|Greek Revival Ionic columns of the Branch Bank of the United States, now in the Charles Engelhard Court of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, inspired by those of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera in Athens, by Martin E. Thompson, 1824
File:P1090550 Paris V fontaine Cuvier rwk.JPG|Neoclassical reinterpetation of the Ionic order, with acanthuses just above the base and ram horn-shaped volutes, of the Fontaine Cuvier, Paris, designed by Alphonse Vigoureux and sculpted by Jean-Jacques Feuchère and Pierre-Jules Pomateau, 1840-1846
File:Akademie von Athen.jpg|Greek Revival Ionic columns of the main building of the Academy of Athens, inspired by those of the Erechtheum in Athens, by Theophilus Hansen, 1859-1885
File:Town hall of Paris Ier arrondissement 2, Paris 2010.jpg|Neoclassical Ionic columns of the Town Hall of the 1st arrondissement of Paris, by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, 1858-1860
File:Villa eilenroc cap antibes 26.jpg|Neoclassical Ionic capital with a festoon between its , part of the entrance portico of the Villa Eilenroc, Antibes, France, by Charles Garnier, 1860-1867
File:Facade of Gare de Paris-Nord, Paris 10 April 2017.jpg|Neoclassical Ionic pilasters on the façade of the Gare du Nord, Paris, by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, 1861-1865 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
Petit Palais, Paris 8th 004.JPG|Beaux Arts Ionic columns of the Petit Palais, Paris, by Charles Giraud, 1900
File:Immeuble art nouveau de France-Lanord (Nancy) (4244309566).jpg|Art Nouveau railing with highly stylized reinterpretations of the Ionic column as balusters, on the France-Lanord Building (Avenue Foch no. 71), Nancy, France, by Émile André, 1904
(Agen) - La Façade du Théâtre Ducourneau sur la place du Docteur Esquirol.jpg|Beaux Arts Ionic columns on the facade of the Ducourneau Theater, Agen, France, by Guillaume Tronchet, 1906-1908
Detail of the restored Union Station, Washington, D.C LCCN2011633893.tif|Polychrome Greek Revival Ionic capitals in the Washington Union Station, Washington, D.C., US, by Daniel Burnham, 1907
23 Rue de la Paix, Paris (07).jpg|Beaux Arts Ionic pilasters in the entrance hallway of the Rue de la Paix no. 23, Paris, unknown architect, 1908
Palatul Cantacuzino Florești (detaliu arhitectural).jpg|Beaux Arts Ionic columns and pilasters of the Cantacuzino Palace, Florești, Romania, by Ion D. Berindey, 1910-1916
29 avenue Bugeaud Paris.jpg|Beaux Arts Ionic pilasters on the facade of the Hôtel Roxoroid de Belfort (Avenue Bugeaud no. 29), Paris, 1911, by André Arfvidson
File:New Orleans Museum of Art - atrium 4.jpg|Conspicuous Greek Revival Ionic capital in the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, US, inspired by those of the Erechtheum in Athens, by Samuel Abraham Marx, 1911
CH-000957-X-40197 Stuck.jpg|Neoclassical Ionic columns in a Vienna Secession poster, by Franz Stuck, 1911, lithograph, Poster Collection of the Basel School of Design, Basel, Switzerland
Bordeaux quartier Lescure maison art déco 4.JPG|Art Deco reinterpretations of the Ionic column and pilaster of an unidentified house in the Quartier Lescure, Bordeaux, France, unknown architect, 1925
Elevator Door, Lobby, Severance Hall, University Circle, Cleveland, OH.jpg|Art Deco and Neoclassical Ionic pilasters in the Severance Hall, Cleveland, US, by Walker and Weeks, 1931
60-62 Șoseaua Panduri, Bucharest (11).jpg|Stalinist Ionic columns of the Colonels' Quarter (Șoseaua Panduri no. 60-62), Bucharest, 1950–1960, by I.Novițchi, C.Ionescu, C.Hacker and A.Șerbescu (2025). 9789730238846, Ordinul Arhitecților din România. ISBN 9789730238846
Capitello, Studio65.jpg|Postmodernism reinterpretation of the Ionic column as the Capitello seating, designed by Studio 65 and produced by Gufram, differentiated-density polyurethane foam coated with latex rubber, 1972, unknown location (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
File:Michael graves per swid powell design, vaso, 1989.jpg|Postmodern vase inspired by the Ionic capital, designed by Michael Graves for Swid Powell, 1989, glazed porcelain, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, US (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
M2ビル (世田谷区).jpeg|Postmodern Ionic column of the M2 Building, Tokyo, Japan, by Kengo Kuma, 1991 (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
File:Cambridge - Gonville and Caius College - 0903.jpg|New Classical Greek Revival Ionic columns in the Gonville and Caius College Hall, Cambridge, UK, inspired by those from the Temple of Apollo at Bassaem by John Simpson, 1998
Jacksonville Public (Main) Library.jpg|Postmodern reinterpretations of Ionic columns of the Jacksonville Public Library, Jacksonville, US, by Robert A. M. Stern, 2005
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