overcarved

Kitty-corner across the graveyard I headed in pursuit of the flower from Jim Morrison's grave, needing no map, following instead the kids I saw: bedraggled or chic, sleek and ragtag alike, mostly from the New World, often stoned and quiet, and clashing strangely with the cemetery's ancient Old World mood, outrageously out of place amid its overcarved frumpery, and looking like cartoon ostriches clad in tutus and scrambling quacking through a rainy-day funeral.

Shampoo Planet Coupland, Douglas 1992

Just as sculpture was once carried to such an extreme that pillars and beams were often so weakened by the extravagant carvings as to threaten the safety of the structure, so the timber in country boys and girls, when brought to the city, is often overcarved and adorned at the cost of strength, robustness and vigor.

Pushing to the Front Orison Swett Marden 1887